Okage: Dark Tempest
by The Genius Mage
Summary: Pairings inside, connected to my other stories. A year after Okage the friends are doing pretty well, new relationships and things like that. But a new evil is rising, and now our Heroes prepare for their last stand. If they don't win, the world is lost.
1. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Pairings in this story include:

Ari and Marlene

Linda and Epros

Stan and Rosalyn

Slight One-Sided Kisling and Rosalyn

**If you are offended by any of these pairings, PLEASE refrain from reading it. I just have to ask you that.**

A lot of inspiration of the character names in this story derives from Latin and Greek words. For example, I believe Addonexus is Latin for "Bringer of Death".

I do not own Okage: Shadow King. If I did, we'd have a sequel by now, maybe even a whole series.

Thanks for reading, now I hope you enjoy it. I will do my absolute best to keep any OCs from being a Mary Sue, please inform me if they become one so I can fix it right away. All OCs will not be in a relationship with other characters.


	2. Chapter One: Return

_**This story actually gets really serious and full of adventure; you just have to be patient. Deal with the romance part and it gets better, I promise. It's actually important to the plot! It is all connected to my Holiday Hazards series, also, but you might understand without reading them.**_

Dark Tempest

Chapter One: Return

Linda skipped down the street, smiling to herself. She was a naturally optimistic person, thus explaining why she was humming to herself also. The last year had gone really well! The circus thing wasn't working for her, since she kept interrupting Epros during his card shows…but then she had just started talking to Mr. Know It All in the Madril bar, since he always seemed so lonely. Then, she had actually gotten a job picking up on some of the local gossip, reading some books from the library, and just chatting with Mr. Know It All. Apparently he wanted all the info he could get. It was a very simple job, and she worked a bit at the bar also. She had a nice apartment, and her music lessons were picking up.

Oh yeah. The music lessons. She was glad to say her voice had greatly improved. She was still singing on street corners, but now people stopped to listen to her songs. It just….got better. More and more people appeared when she sang, and that could only mean her music career was taking off! She was going to have a concert in the park. It was everything she always wanted.

Then…why wasn't she happy?

_I know why. _She thought sourly. Being sad wasn't something Linda did often, and it passed on by so fast some people missed it. But she couldn't stop that annoying prickling in her head every time she thought of him.

Epros.

They had been dating since that night at Ari's house during the holidays. She had been crying, and he had come in to comfort her. Then, actually, he had started showing up more and more afterward. Bringing gifts sometimes and actually listened when she sang.

_Everyone said we looked so cute together! And we were._

Then…he had broken up with her. Around this time of year.

She stopped to lean against the new railings installed around Madril. She was on the first level, which meant the only thing below her was the industrial area, far below, where the gears and junk worked. It was around this time, the summer, when she missed him the most. It was also when he had broken up with her.

She touched the onyx pendant on her silver necklace, turning the egg shaped gem over in her fingers. Black, with silver letters engraved on two sides. An E. And a L.

She felt the tears in her eyes, as she remembered his fingers slipping through hers…She had wanted to know why, but he said he couldn't…she'd be safer…

She had been heartbroken, and her friends had comforted her. Rosalyn had said she was too strong to cry for long over him, he wasn't worth the trouble! Marlene had agreed; the boys distanced themselves, feeling awkward over stuff like this. However, Stan had said if he saw Epros again he'd incinerate him, just for her.

They had helped her get rid of the junk that reminded her of him, but what had made her keep the necklace? What had made her hide it from them, and then wear it around her neck, hidden in her shirt?

She removed the clasp, staring at the silver chain that slipped through her fingers. The pendant flashed brightly. Just like his eyes.

If he was going to break up with her, why did he give her the necklace that same night? Pity?

But that was so _unlike _the former Phantom Evil King.

Linda suddenly steeled herself. She had to let him go. She held the necklace over the pit, looking at the mist created by the machines working far below.

"Tonight," She whispered, her new found maturity speaking for her, overwhelming her kiddy side, which it had begun to do more often. "I let you go."

And she dropped the chain. It spiraled out of sight, flashing brightly once more, before it was gone.

Gone. Like him.

Linda felt like a huge weight had been removed from her chest. She felt a helpless smile playing across her lips. She had finally let him go, that necklace had been the constant reminder of the whole year without him.

But now, she was going to move _on._

She felt so happy; she grabbed her microphone from her bag, touching the familiar object. It was magical, amplifying her voice even without the equipment. She was alone on the street, and she turned down the volume so to not awaken the sleeping citizens. She smiled at the memory of Marlene grudgingly admitting she no longer sounded like she was "committing abuse to all windows in the area", so she didn't break glass anymore!

She leaned against the wall, singing to herself.

"This day just gets better and better, alone with you, in this weather…"

Sometimes it was nice to sing to yourself.

"The light touches you, from high up above. I wait for those words, 'It's you I love'…"

She cocked her head to the side, hearing someone walking. _Oh. Well, it is a city._

"When they leave your lips, you hold me tight, then you say-"

"Everything is going to be alright."

"Everything is going to be alright."

Linda froze, staring around. Her first thought was, _this isn't a duet!_ Then she recognized that voice.

God no.

**God no.**

That light, almost girly voice, but was too deep for that. With that accent you couldn't get anywhere else, similar to Stan's but different. That cultured, accented voice only belonged to one guy.

How had he _known_? To come back right after she had just gotten over him. Or so she told herself.

She didn't want to lift her head. She just tightened her grip on her mike, wishing her friend Maggie was here. She tried to ignore his voice.

"Won't you at least turn to face me? It's your face I came to see."

She tried to tell everyone she was, like, so totally mature now, you know? But she didn't think even mature people wanted to talk to ex-boyfriends. Rosalyn would have gone into an angry rant. She wasn't Rosalyn, it was against her nature.

Epros had had her heart, and he had broken it. Well, most of her heart. One piece was held by Coach, and Ari even had one. (She felt really bad for confusing him with a doll), but yes, Epros had had the biggest piece. He had destroyed it, and scattered what was left.

He was toying with her heart now, like a cat with a mouse.

"Linda?" He said, no longer rhyming, not when one word was all that was needed.

She finally lifted her head, staring at him. She was maybe a little taller, with her horns a little longer, but her hair was the same, cut short. He looked like the photos in her album, untouched by time. The former Phantom Evil King's eyes glinted in the light.

"Epros?" She let his name out in a gasp. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled slightly, floating over. "I wished to see you sing, it would bring me joy beyond anything."

"You told me my singing was terrible." She narrowed her eyes.

He set himself down a little away from her. He grimaced. "T'was true I suppose, once upon a time. Now I hear you're quite sublime."

Her natural flirty side came out, and she smiled slightly. "Had to hear it to believe it, huh?" She laughed slightly, and he laughed with her. It wove together like music, like it belonged there…

_No it doesn't! _She screamed at herself.

Linda hesitated, and then shrugged. "Okay. Glad you're here. Concert isn't until another week, though. " She gave him an honest smile. "We'll have lots of fun, you know? I've already invited everyone. It's late, I'm heading home."

Epros bowed. "I look forward to your performance, if I may say. I'd come to your concert any day."

Linda scoffed, turning around. "So you say."

She stiffened when suddenly he was right beside her, brushing his fingers across her cheek. The blush crept up before she could stop it.

"You know I didn't mean it that way. I can explain, about that earlier day." He said softly into her ear.

His fingers trailed down to her hand, and he pressed something cold into her grip. She brought her hands to her chest and ran down the street, not wanting to listen to anything he had to say.

Once she got home, she bolted into her room and jumped onto the bed. She opened her hand, staring at the object.

The necklace.

She put it on her bedside table and hugged her pillow, suppressing tears.

Why did he have to come back? Right when she was starting to get over him? What kind of sick game was he playing?

"Maybe," she said into the darkness. "I need to talk to Rosalyn."

If anyone knew how to get rid of guys, it was the Great Hero.


	3. Chapter Two: Surprise, surprise

Chapter Two: Surprise, surprise

_**If you haven't read Hate and Love, you should know. Rosalyn and Stan got into a relationship, sort of. I apologize in advance for any typos.  
**_

_*******_

Rosalyn twirled her sword, lounging against a tree outside of Ari's manor. She listened to the idle chit chat of the family as they set up the tables. They were having some kind of cook out, and since she was in the area she thought she'd stop by. Ari's mom was the best cook, and she missed her friends. Sheathing the rapier, the Hero stood up and stretched, wandering over to the gate. She sighed and looked up.

There were always bad guys around, but none like the fake Evil Kings. She really wished-

_Don't go there Rosalyn. That's just going to get you corrupted!_

When a Hero started to wish for war, that was…just wrong. Really wrong. And Rosalyn wasn't going to let it happen.

Granted, even she couldn't lie to herself. She wished something interesting would happen. She had come over to Ari's manor just looking for someone…

As if reading her thoughts, Stan appeared with a crooked grin. He solidified into his demon form, twirling something in his fingers.

Rosalyn smiled slightly, and then narrowed her eyes.

"What the heck do you want, you fake evil being? And what are you holding?" She glared suspiciously at the object in Stan's hands.

Stan smiled, slipping it into his pocket. "Nothing, you walking pig."

This exchange of insults had started to become almost…loving. Ever since Stan had told her he loved her in the spring. If the others noticed, they said nothing.

"For real, Stanley. What is it?" Rosalyn turned and walked up the stairs, keeping her eye on Stan.

Unbelievably, she still didn't trust him. Not fully.

Stan suddenly grabbed her and hauled her into the trees, all in one smooth motion. Setting her down, he removed the object from his pocket, and opened his hand.

Resting in his palm was a good sized insect. But the insect was shiny silver, with tiny wings like stained glass that whirred loudly, like a fan, before stopping without warning. The thing's eyes were big and red; the legs thin, with little hooks on the end.

"What _is _it?" Rosalyn asked in surprise. Stan just grinned wickedly and extended his hand.

"Take it and find out."

Rosalyn didn't. She backed up. Previous to this spring, she would have simply drawn her rapier. But her trust of Stan had grown just a teensy bit thanks to that day.

"Oh come on, it's not going to hurt you." Stan rolled his eyes.

"Ha-ha. No."

Stan smiled, leaning close. "Are you afraid of what it could do?"

"Heroes don't get afraid. I'm just cautious." She smirked, shoving his hand aside. "I bet it's some kind of evil tool. I wasn't born yesterday, you wannabe elf."

"Heroes are-"His eyes bugged out, and he bared his teeth. "What? ELF? DID YOU JUST SAY ELF, YOU-"

Ari appeared suddenly, pushing aside the plants. He smiled faintly at their bickering.

"Mom wants you two to stop arguing and come help with the party."

"What? You _actually_ believe moi, Evil King Stan, is _actually_ going to help-"

Rosalyn grabbed his arm and hauled him forward. "Come on, you big baby."

They all began helping Ari's family with the preparations, Stan only grudgingly doing so, and James, his "Evil" Butler, mostly salivating over the food.

Once it had all been set up, something unexpected happened. Linda came running down the path, her eyes wide.

Marlene crossed her arms, but smiled anyway. "Hello, Linda. Glad you're here!"

Linda stopped for breath, staring at the floor. Rosalyn caught the dark gleam of the onyx necklace around her neck.

"Oh, Linda." She breathed. Then she got mad. "Didn't I say get rid of that guy's stuff?"

Stan smirked. "I knew she wouldn't listen."

Annie liked Linda; she was upbeat, just like her. Another member of the sisterhood Rosalyn was a part of.

"Oh, Linda. What's wrong?" Ari's little sister asked.

Linda walked over to Stan, ignoring everyone else.

"Oh, Coach." She held her hands over her chest, gripping the necklace. "Epros is back."

Everyone stared in disbelief.

"Eh? Where is he?" Stan growled. "I'll show him to toy with little girls! I mean, really!" Stan ranted a bit in the background, and Ari just sighed.

"Where is he?" Ari asked.

Linda frowned. "All I know is that he came to me in Madril…and he said he'll be back for my concert. But there's something I don't get…"

"That's a new one." Stan smirked, and got slapped for his trouble by Rosalyn.

"He gave me this necklace, see?" She held up the beautiful silver chain, with the black pendant. "The night we broke up."

Stan's eyes widened slightly, and then he just looked skyward. Rosalyn didn't miss a thing. She resolved to bring it up later.

"That _is _weird." Marlene admitted. "We'll talk about it later. If Epros shows up again, we'll ask him."

"Beat the answers outta the guy! Messing with the Diva!"

Everyone whirled around to see Big Bull, constant grin still in place, walk over to the party. He must have been in the area also.

"Hey, Big Bull." Rosalyn said.

"Anyway, talk about this later. The food is ready." Ari's mother said to them.

Everyone went to eat the food, which was really good by the way, but the whole time Rosalyn noticed Stan's eyes kept flicking from the sky to her.

Finally, annoyed after the tenth time, the Hero snarled, "What is it Stanley?!"

All the conversation vanished, and Stan raised his eyebrows. "What's up with you?"

"You keep looking at me!"

He smirked. "You wish I would."

Rosalyn suddenly grabbed her drink and splashed it on his face.

Stan stared in disbelief, then snatched a slice of pie and hurled it at her. A food fight promptly began, with everyone laughing soon after.

"Well, it's a good thing we all ate our fill first." Ari's grandfather said, snorting with laughter.

"Uh huh, uh huh, that's right honey." Ari's grandmother added.

Rosalyn spent the next ten minutes helping everyone clean up, and then she got to work cleaning her own clothes.

"Good thing I have spare clothes." The Hero grumbled, emerging from the house, clean.

"It was your fault." Stan snickered, emerging from the shadows and transforming to his solid form.

"All I did was throw a drink. _You_ were the one chucking pies at people, you pathetic excuse for an evil…elf." She smirked.

Stan looked like he was about to rant, but decided to simply smooth his hair back. "Whatever…woman. I'm glad you're not as brain dead as I thought, I _was_ looking at you."

"What? Then why-"

Stan laughed, cupping her face with his hand. "It's so easy to get you angry." He whispered.

Rosalyn slapped him, and Stan pouted.

"What did I do?"

"Oh…Whatever. What did you want?"

Stan gestured for her to go into the forest a bit with him, and then he removed the odd bug from his pocket again after they positioned themselves in a sunny glade, speckled with the white flowers they were familiar with in the springtime.

"Tch. Woman. So impatient. I'll get to that…sweetheart." He laughed again as Rosalyn fumed, hand on her sword.

He suddenly became serious. "Have you heard of the Oblivion Emperor?"

Rosalyn shook her head. Stan stood in front of her, still holding the bug.

"I hadn't either." He admitted. "But I did some work on the matter while you were off 'adventuring'. I left Ari's house for a few days…and went to the World Library."

Rosalyn didn't say anything, just listened.

"If anyone had books on the guy, it had to be in there, right? Since the former creator of our little universe used to exist there."

"Where _is_ Beiloune?" She interrupted.

Stan raised his eyebrows, and then spat on the ground. "Eh, how do I know? The guy came to visit Marlene a while ago, haven't seen him since that whole winter holiday fiasco. Now will you let me finish? Heroes and their so called manners!"

Rosalyn huffed, crossing her arms.

"I went through book after book, and the place was deserted, even those weird men, so I had to guess on the whereabouts of the book I was looking for. I'm from the Diablerie, you know, so I figured I might as well start there, since all demons are from there. Don't think the Diablerie and the Devildom are different areas, they're the same."

"Linda is-"

"Yeah, she is, was born there but taken elsewhere. Now shut up! Anyway, I finally found what I was looking for, a big black book. I flipped through it for a while, trying to figure out why I kept having these nightmares…"

He trailed off.

"What…nightmares?" She asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm not some little kid, woman! I don't need help when I have nightmares! But from those I heard of the Oblivion Emperor." Stan sighed, rubbed his head, and then continued.

"I found it. You thought Beiloune was tough? Thought he shook everything you believed in? What until you hear about the Oblivion Emperor. He goes by a lot of names, apparently. The Dark Monarch, the Eclipse Master, the Lightless Champion, oh and this is the best..." He curled his lip. "The Supreme Ruler of Dusk."

"Okay, guy has a lot of names. The point?" Rosalyn snapped.

"Tch. _Calm down_. Okay, what's his _real _name you ask? I looked through the records, and I think he used to be Addonexus. He got a hold of some power, became super evil and immortal..."

"What?!"

"I know. He has a weakness, though. He can be killed, I think, by a mysterious object called the Spiritus, but it's been lost for an eon."

"Oh my God. Please-"

"Yeah." He snarled, baring his teeth. "Makes me so...angry..." He took a deep breath. "Rosalyn, there's something you need to know. Addonexus is coming."

"How do you know?" Rosalyn prayed the Shadow King was wrong.

"How do I know? The nightmares. Those of the Diablerie are closely aligned with the object he stole, a long time ago. It's called the Necomortis, and it powered our world. Having Evil King blood, I get the dreams."

"Oh." Was all she could say.

"Listen, woman. The reason all of us ghosts are here, is because even Beiloune, with his fancy power, couldn't stop the powerful outside influence of Addonexus. He just kept _him_ out. We had to leave the Devildom after..."

"Wait, that makes no sense. You said Linda had been there before-"

Stan just stared, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh. My. God. She isn't that old!"

Stan laughed mirthlessly. "Yes, she is. Not only that, but our ditzy little friend is an important key to the puzzle. _She_ probably doesn't know she's that old. I'll explain that later. That's not important right now. What IS important..."

He stepped so close to her they were only centimeters apart.

"What's really important..." He murmured. "Is what Addonexus can do."

"Which is?" She was always uncomfortable when he got this close. He looked at her.

"He infects an area with a destroying aura. It's supposed to destroy...Light. We're equally matched, but opposites. I'm The Shadow Evil King. What does that make you?"

Rosalyn stared. "You...mean..."

"That's right, Rosalyn."

He was calling her by her name, it was serious now.

"How can I fight him?"

Stan stepped a little bit away, then turned back around and showed her the bug.

"You're uncorrupted. It may destroy Light, but if you corrupt yourself a little...you'll enter a state called Corrupted Light. It'll still be there, granted, but it's tainted enough that hopefully, you'll be able to survive the aura when he comes."

"What are _you_ in?"

"I'm in the..." He growled, looking at the sky. "Corrupted Shadow state. It means I'm mostly Evil, but you stupid slaves have turned me toward the path of 'Light'." He sneered the word.

"What happens when it..." She gestured to the bug.

"I'll tell you." He laughed, sending chills down her spine. "You'll start having bad thoughts. You'll probably become a little Evil. But you'll be mostly be...Rosalyn."

"Wait. No. Heroes aren't _a little_ Evil! I can't!"

Stan suddenly banged his fist on the tree, ignoring the splinters in his hand, and the groaning noise the tree made as it threatened to fall over.

"Darn it, Rosalyn! You _have _to! Get over your stupid Hero pride and let the bug bite you. This bug, it's called the Infectus. I promise..." He lowered his voice, looking at her. "I won't let it bite too long."

"Can it be cured?"

"I don't know." He admitted.

Rosalyn stared at the bug, which was crawling on Stan's hand.

"Please, Rosalyn."

She stared in surprise, lifting her eyes. It went against everything she ever believed in, to be purposely corrupted...

"If you don't corrupt yourself, no one will be left to stop Addonexus."

She hesitated. "What about Ari?"

"He...might be okay. He's a natural deviant; the spells might not work on him. I'm not sure. The other former Evil Kings should be okay." Stan rolled his eyes. "Since they borrowed some of my dark power, and it leaves a mark. Kisling will have to get bitten, though. And Marlene, and everyone else."

"We're creating a corrupted world!"

"If there's a cure, we'll find it! Rosalyn, come on." He growled, showing her the bug again.

She sighed. "Prove to me it's real, this Addonexus thing."

"I don't have time! There is something I need to show you, but we don't have time to go to Wap Wap Island. There's a hidden temple there, just take my word for it. Trust me, for once, you stupid Hero woman, or there won't be a world left to rule, or to save!"

Rosalyn looked at Stan.

Then at the bug.

Then she extended her arm.

"I trust you." She said unhappily. He placed the bug there, and she shivered, watching the Infectus prick her skin with sharp feet. Then something worse happened. It bit her, and she felt herself begin to lose conscientiousness so fast, it was startling.

She was afraid, and it wasn't helped by the fact that Stan was smiling, looking at her with wicked eyes.

The last words she heard for a while, words that were a distorted echo of her own, that fateful spring day.

"The king made his move before the queen."

***

_**Be sure to review!**_


	4. Secret Journal 1

_**Secret Journal:**_

_I always believed there was good in everyone. _

_Stan is a primary example of this, an Evil King who defeated Evil Kings, (albeit for his own reasons), and even overthrew a corrupt world order. Surely this is an example of a light at the end of the tunnel, that always constant light in the darkness?_

_And yet, I have conflicted feelings. What if he can't be turned and I have to kill him myself?_


	5. Chapter Three: Black Heart

Chapter Three: Black Heart

_**Yeah, Ari will get his POV chapters in this story. But I need to do Linda again first.**_

Linda couldn't sleep. Why? Well, she didn't like to admit to herself, but she kept thinking of Epros. She toyed with his necklace, which she had argued with Marlene for an hour before she got to keep it. He said he could explain…

_He better have a good excuse._ She thought.

With a sigh she got out of the bed she was borrowing in Ari's home, the same room during the winter breaks. She looked at the open door to Rosalyn's room and wondered where the Hero was. Everyone guessed she must have gone off to grumble about Stan somewhere, but he was gone too...

Deciding it wasn't her business, at least not right now, Linda stepped outside into the moonlight, glancing around.

No one was here. That didn't mean anything; since Epros could appear without warning...It was his trademark, as the former Evil King of Phantoms.

And it appeared today wasn't any different.

"It appears I was not waiting in vain, I knew I'd see you again."

Linda walked over to the fountain, and looked into its shimmering clear depths. She turned around, leaning against it, and looked at Epros who was smiling softly at her from across Ari's yard.

"Hi, Epros." She said shortly, twirling the necklace. "The others think I should let Big Bull and Coach at you, but I said you could explain first _before _I let them loose." She pouted slightly, and Epros walked a little closer, slowly, with his head down.

"'Tis true, I know, I have much to tell. If you will be patient, all will come out well."

Linda smiled, crossing her arms. "I'm listening."

"I did this to protect, to shield, you see. If I didn't he'd come after thee."

"Who?" She asked curiously. He walked a little closer.

"The Devil King, the Shadow Lord, he has as many names as this rhyme does words." He smiled, and Linda giggled.

"Well, okay Eppy." She said teasingly, knowing he hated that nickname. "Do you have any proof?" Linda added quickly, remembering what Rosalyn had said about guys winning you over with empty promises.

"Yes, I do, is the fact of the matter. But do you say no or yes? I prefer the latter."

Linda smiled at him, but he still didn't get too close. "Prefer yes to what?"

"Will you begin, start over with I? I'd be delighted, I actually might cry." He smiled, green eyes twinkling.

Linda was too happy to notice anything. "Oh, of course!"

He bowed, still moving a little closer. "Then please, remove the necklace, of this I desire. It's from our old relationship, and does not symbolize our new fire."

Linda giggled again, taking the necklace off, and dropping it in a coil on the wall of the fountain. Epros stepped closer, and he reflected on the water. That wasn't his reflection…

Then, it kicked in. She saw it in the fanged grin Epros gave her.

Fangs? _That wasn't Epros._ He didn't have fangs. Or green eyes.

"C-Coach?" She whimpered, praying it was just the Shadow Evil King playing tricks on her. It wasn't. Before she could grab her microphone from her bag, Epros pounced, transforming in midair.

He went from a ghost, resembling a human, to something that did not, all in the space of the moment he jumped, and the instant he landed. Strange spines erupted from his back, rising like a hedgehog's. Darkness filled the air, covered his body, drifting upward like thick smog. The green eyes lost their pupils and transformed into a flat disc of shimming jade, like fire. Long claws, silver and hooked, emerged from the hands and a tail erupted from the body, thrashing wildly, spikes swinging to the side.

Linda let out a high pitched scream before the creature dug his claws into her shoulders, lifting her cruelly into the air. She tried to scream again, but darkness engulfed her mouth, cutting off any chance of talking. Pain erupted like wildfire up and down her body. The creature had a strange face, almost like a dragon, but thinner and longer. There were ridges too, just faintly, and spikes around his neck like a mane. The creature laughed, sending chills down her spine, watching her like she was some kind of interesting piece of meat.

He spoke then, its voice carried a dark chill, with the familiar accent that Stan carried, and even a hint of Epros's.

"Foolish girl. Surely you should know better by now?" He lowered his head and fixed her with his pupil devoid eyes. He laughed. "No weapon? Pity. That's quite alright, I assure you. We are going to enjoy our time together, you and I." He laughed once more at Linda's expression.

"It won't work. My friends will find you!" Linda was surprised that she could talk, and then she realized the demon had just been waiting for an answer. He covered her mouth again.

"Ah, but that's what I hope. They're here." He cocked his head to the side, just as the door opened and Ari came bounding out, holding his sword. Big Bull wasn't far behind, and even Marlene looked out from the house, walking down the steps, looking nervous and proud at the same time, something that only the real Marlene could do. She recently learned to do some healing spells, and she was rather good at it. Weapons, though? No. She just wasn't...the type of person for that.

Linda stared wildly, kicking her legs in the air. The demon simply lifted skywards, and his body rippled only faintly, showing no signs of pain, as Ari's Overdrive attack simply got absorbed by the demon. It ran interested eyes over everyone, and then sighed.

"Ah, quite a shame. I was hoping to meet the Evil King and the Hero? Not here? What a pity." He casually shifted Linda to one arm, which was now caught in dark bonds made of some strange, stiff material. "Tell them my master wishes them, and you, a good day."

"Who's your master? And who are you?" Marlene demanded.

The demon raised a scaly eyebrow. "Ah, Princess Marlene. Or former princess, I should say. Once lost and alone in Triste, known as that 'sobbing distraught girl'? Yes, I know all about that." He laughed a little, looking at her shocked expression. "Now, you found true love, have friends, and live in a big, albeit kind of run down, manor. How sad it would be to have something..." He dug his claws further into Linda's skin, drawing more blood, and the girl only whimpered helplessly, as her friends watched, feeling the same way. "Happen to them. Or more specifically, _him_." He turned his head to look directly at Ari, and Marlene grabbed his shoulder. Ari only looked back at her and nodded, before turning to the demon again.

"We didn't ask for a monologue on Marlene's life. What we _did _ask is who are you, and who is your master?"

"Screw that, what are you doing with the Diva?" Big Bull demanded.

"How rude. Allow me to introduce myself." He bowed with one hand, still holding Linda. "I am known as Melas Kardia. I must wait for_ him _to show up, shouldn't take too long now. As for my master, well, you should ask your resident Evil King for that, no?"

Ari shouted, "What does Stan have to do with this?"

"Not just King Stanley. Also, the Hero Rosalyn. Or the not-so Hero..." Melas trailed off, chuckling in his cold voice. "And, here is my guest! Wonderful!"

"Guest? Isn't this Cub's house?" Big Bull said in confusion.

It was Epros. He had appeared from somewhere behind Ari's house, and his red eyes passed over to the crowd of scared Heroes, the fountain with the necklace resting on it, all coiled up, to Melas Kardia and his prisoner.

"Release her, Melas, of this I demand! Or this will be your final stand."

"Sorry. No. Can't do that, you see. The Master wouldn't like it, no? I have to tell you something, though." He smirked hugely as Epros's cards sliced through his shadowy form, and nothing happened. Linda's eyes stared into Epros's, begging him to do something.

"Get on with it, then." Marlene demanded.

Melas nodded. "My apologies for taking so long. The key has been found, we just need the lock. Isn't that so, Epros?" The demon smirked, winking his green eyes, and then before anyone could move, he levitated up, vanishing into the clouds. And was gone.

Clouds...? They weren't there earlier. And there were an awful lot of them. Everything seemed dark and heavy; the air felt like it was electric charged.

Epros landed softly, picking up the necklace. His eyes stared at the chain, the L and the E...

No one said anything for a while. Then Ari spoke.

"We need to find Stan."


	6. Chapter Four: Corrupted

Chapter Four: Corrupted

_**Yay reviews! Reviews make me update more, I feel more motivated to write.**_

_*******_

Rosalyn knew two things when she woke up.

She had a bad headache.

And her arm hurt. Really badly.

She ruffled tiredly through her memories, trying to figure out what happened. She staggered to her feet, looking around the place she was beginning to call her home.

Wait...why was she in Ari's manor? Wasn't she outside?

Then all of it came back. She stared at her arm, looking at the two deep, small cuts. Smooth and perfectly round, and then she felt sick, and almost fainted again.

She stumbled, falling backward, only to be caught by a pair of cold arms.

"Still tired?" Stan smirked, holding her up and looking down at her with his fanged smile. Rosalyn glared, and pulled herself from his grip.

She really wanted to hurt him.

But being Rosalyn, that wasn't too odd. What _was _odd...was how she wanted to do it.

The thoughts running through her mind were barbaric...and cruel...

"Oh...no..."

Stan grinned delightedly. "That's right; you're almost just like me, woman."

She whirled around, glaring at him. "I'm _nothing _like you."

"Oh really? Go look in the mirror."

Rosalyn ran into the bathroom down the hall, wondering where everyone was. She looked outside and saw the sun was still out; they must be at the party. She stared at her reflection, with Stan's footsteps slowly coming down the hall.

_Heck no._

Her features were barely changed, her face was a little more pointed, like Stan's, sort of like a cat. Her eyes, always golden, were glowing just so slightly. Not only had that changed...she pushed her hair back on an impulse.

And almost screamed, if Stan hadn't put his hand over her mouth.

All that came out was a muffled noise, because _her ears were pointed_.

"You turned me into an elf!" She shouted, whirling around and staring at him. Roasting him over a slow fire sounded really good about now...

"What? No. You're just part demon." He laughed while Rosalyn fumed, resisting the urge to murder him on the spot. Sensing, perhaps, how close she was to snapping, Stan put his hands up.

"Calm down, Rosy."

"CALM DOWN? I'M A DEMON!" She roared, grabbing her rapier with one arm and staring at it.

"You're not considering suicide are you?" Stan asked casually, but his eyes stared hard at her.

"Gah. No. Of course not. Heroes don't give up that easy."

"But you're not a Hero anymore, are you? You're an Anti-Hero!" Stan snickered and Rosalyn groaned, hitting her head on the sink.

"Why me? Okay…no more of this. Now what, we find the others?"

"First, I need you to come with me. I promised I'd show you the truth, the reason why I'm _not _lying about Addonexus."

That _was _more important at the moment. She could always kill him later. Her thoughts were clouded, something she would only realize later.

"Sure, yeah. Get it over with, then!" She grumbled, following him out of the door. They snuck out back and headed around in a loop toward the Stone Circle of Tenel, set up at the Circus Grounds, though it probably wasn't there anymore, the circus that is.

The silence stretched for a long time…uncomfortably long. Stan kept glancing back at her, and every time their eyes met he just grinned evilly.

Rosalyn crossed her arms, scowling, staring at the sky. "Done acting so childish?" She asked."I know you let the bug bite longer than it should!"

"True, I did. But I told you I wouldn't let it bite _too _long, you're still mostly good. Happy?"

Rosalyn kicked him down as soon as he turned back around, then she started kicked him in the side, a cowardly thing she wouldn't have done had it not been for Infectus.

"You stupid Evil King!" She hissed, slamming her foot into him to emphasize each word. "You did this to me, on purpose, so I'm going to kick you into-"

Suddenly Rosalyn realized what she was doing, and she pulled back, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Oh no. Darn it!!!" Rosalyn covered her whole face with her hands and heaved a sigh. "Sorry."

Stan got to his feet, smoothing his costume out. "What, that? Nah, I got hurt more by two year olds."

Rosalyn smirked, looking at him through her fingers. "Wow, must be some tough two year olds."

Stan bristled, but grabbed her hand and started walking. "We're almost there…"

She yanked her hand from his grip and started down the path, heading for the glowing green Stone Circle.

Rosalyn felt that familiar feeling of being lifted into the air, of being weightless, and then of that same weight appearing way too fast. She was used to it by now, and placed her feet down carefully, still feeling a bit dizzy. She broke into laughter as Stan staggered around a bit.

"S-Shut up, woman. I'm just not used to that." He growled.

"I know. You're used to hiding in Ari's shadow." Rosalyn walked past him and looked around. That's when she realized that the woman usually on Wap Wap Island wasn't there today.

"Where's…"

"Beats me. Why do I care for such an insignificant person like her? Speaking in a flat voice all the time, no wonder, she must have no life out here!" He gestured around them at the island in the middle of the ocean, the other Circles still glowing their rainbow of colors, and how there wasn't even any birds in sight.

"So," Rosalyn sneered. "Where's your so called proof?"

Stan grumbled something, walking toward the Stone Circle that led to the snow fields, Pospos, or at least that's what Rosalyn thought they were called.

"This way. And I know I said there's a temple, but I don't like to repeat myself, when we get the Slave and everyone gathered back together, we'll head over there. I have some more proof."

They warped back to the freezing climate of the snow fields, and Rosalyn extracted herself from a particularly deep clump of snow that had gathered around the Circle.

"You could have told me you were doing this, instead of letting me freeze." She grumbled.

"Shut up, it's only some snow, and you're aligned with Ice anyway." Stan stepped into Triste, the beautiful city for the Ignored, back when Classification still existed. Nowadays, people still lived here, but most had eagerly left to get back to their lives. Once, Ari had wanted to go back to visit but Marlene had gotten so terrified he had finally decided to cancel the visit.

It had an eerie feel, even though now it was populated, some of the inhabitants had gone insane from being ignored and were still living in the city. The air had a sharp, eerie feel and bittersweet music played from somewhere, but Rosalyn couldn't track it down. A seemingly abandoned Hero's Club rested to the side of the road, and the door was open though no one was inside.

"Why are we here?" She asked Stan after they walked in silence for a bit. She kept trying to ignore the dark thoughts that entertained themselves in her head.

"We're heading for the library. Some of these books have never been read before, naturally, since the Ignored lived in this city, and people like you never got to read stuff like that."

"Can you even read?" Rosalyn teased.

Stan huffed. "Yes, of course, Hero woman. I went to the World Library _unable _to read."

"Must have been hard after three hundred years in a bottle."

"Nonsense, you insignificant pig! I'm the Great Evil King Stanley HiHat Trinidad XIV; everything and all things are easy to me."

"Oh really? That must include being stupid."

They bickered back and forth before reaching the pristine but still eerily empty library. It was small, but very crowded, and the odd part was the absence of dust.

Rosalyn ran her finger over the table, watching it smear the wooden surface, and glanced around. No spider webs, no dust. How could that-

"Rosy, I said something to you. Are you deaf as well as fat and stupid?"

She snapped out of her trance, and several dark thoughts came to mind before she shoved it down. "Didn't I say don't call me Rosy?"

"Tch, whatever…woman." Stan dropped a brown book on the table; the leather so cracked and worn it looked in danger of dropping off.

"This isn't the one from the World Library; in fact, there's some kind of spell that prevents me from taking it out. Darn that Beiloune. Regardless of that imbecile's spells, which I could probably break in time, this book has some info."

Stan tapped the page, and Rosalyn saw the whole book was handwritten. The page was yellow and crackly, and the ink was dark red.

"Please don't tell me-"

"It's blood all right. That's not important either, going off on tangents now? By the next morning, the sky should be really cloudy, and then it'll start to rain, but it'll fall up. That's the best translation I can give for non Diablerie speaking humans."

Rosalyn noticed the text was written in some strange, jagged looking writing that made absolutely no sense to her.

"Falling up?" She said skeptically, pushing her hair back to examine the picture on the next page better.

The picture was hard to see, since it was stained and slightly blurry, but it depicted a tree started to slowly disintegrate, pieces flying toward the blackened sky.

"Yeah, you heard me. Apparently Addonexus's clouds are going to suck up a lot of the nutrient here, but don't worry, the world will still live. Problem is, once the clouds get going no one knows how to stop them." Stan scratched his head, scowling. "We'd have to find Addonexus, but the problem is he'll probably be in the Diablerie, trying to find the Spiritus, which I have reason to believe Beiloune has, or had."

Rosalyn stared at Stan, and then laughed. "No way have you figured this out by yourself!"

Stan smirked. "Sure I did. I'm a Great King of Evil after all."

Rosalyn thought of several ways to get him to talk, and before her Hero side could react, she grabbed Stan's head and slammed it onto the table, drawing her sword and poking her throat. He tried to get up, and then froze when he felt the cold blade.

"For real, did you really solve this by yourself?"

Stan grumbled something and Rosalyn just poked him again.

"Okay, fine! I had some help."

"From who?"

"That clown scholar, Kisling."

Rosalyn let him up, sheathing her rapier. "I knew it." She said smugly, and Stan growled.

"Not important! Details…who needs them…point _being _before I was so rudely interrupted, we'll have to find a way into the Diablerie, if the guy is there, or we'll have to hope he's here somewhere on this realm looking for the Spiritus. I'm not sure what the Diablerie is even like now."

Rosalyn nodded. "I see. But is a book much proof that he's here, that and your nightmares?"

Stan nodded, tapping the desk with his claw-like fingers. "You said you trusted me. After all, Epros must have had them _before _me, that's why he saw this fore coming danger, and most likely broke up with Linda because of that, not wanting her hurt. I just guessed that…"

"You're not about to tell me Epros is a king or something are you?"

"Of course not, you brain dead Hero! The Spiritus is more closely connected to the guys who made it, phantoms, and no, Epros did not make it. He's the son of someone who did."

"Wait, what?" Rosalyn was slightly confused. "How did he get Addonexus connected with the-"

Stan smirked. "Well, it appears some things are beyond you. Let me explain. It seems that Addonexus, who has the Necomortis, is getting closer. The closer he gets, the more the Spiritus reacts to being near it. Get it?"

"Yeah, okay. Whatever. Now what?"

Stan snapped the book closed and tucked it under his arm. "We go back to Ari's manor and bite the others with the Infectus, and then we need to find Epros."

Rosalyn shook her head. "You're so stupid! We could have done that first!"

"If that necklace is what I think it is, the one Linda had, none of the minions Addonexus has can touch Linda if she has it on. And unless she took it off at some point, it should hide her from them too."

"What minions?" She asked as they headed out of Triste, and passed the spot where K.T. usually stood.

"Hey, I don't know. I don't even know if Ari can handle them, or the others. Enough chit chat, let's go."

Rosalyn walked silently, following Stan, and wondering if…no…this couldn't have been planned…because she saw no reason why they couldn't have bitten the others, _and then _gone to Triste…

Something irritated her. Her dark thoughts screamed he had set this up, and Rosalyn vaguely wondered if it was right.


	7. Secret Journal 2

_**Secret Journal:**_

_This is ridiculous, these thoughts induced from the Infectus virus. I used to be perfectly tolerable of the fact that Rosalyn and Stan are in a relationship, albeit an uncanny one, but now I find myself wishing to separate them._

_Preposterous, outlandish, and yet here I am! No, this is certainly an appealing research experiment, but I will not succumb to the power of this bug. _


	8. Chapter Five: Infecting

Chapter Five: Infecting

_**Apologies for the pace slowing down, something is gonna happen next chapter. Thanks for reviews! Seriously!**_

_*******_

Ari stared at the sky, so cloudy it almost looked like night, then back down the forest path. He walked around uneasily, glancing left and right.

It was the morning after Linda's capture, and so far Epros refused to speak until Rosalyn and Stan could be located. That meant he had no choice but to try and find them. So far, Big Bull said he had tracked them to the Stone Circle, and they could be anywhere once they relocated to Wap Wap Island. The others had gone off to check frantically, and Ari had been told to stay behind in the hope they might return.

Turns out Epros's hunch that they would come back to Tenel was correct.

The Stone Circle whooshed right when Ari passed it on his second patrol around the forest, and he quickly backtracked, eyes widening in surprise as he watched Rosalyn emerge first, looking around, somehow vaguely different, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

That didn't matter, he decided. He ran forward to greet them.

"Rosalyn, Stan!"

"What did you call me, Slave?" Stan demanded.

"Stan, we don't have time!" Ari tried to fight down the panic.

"What's wrong?" Rosalyn asked, her eyes flicking to Stan.

"It's pretty bad. Linda's been kidnapped."

Stan swore violently, and Rosalyn paled. "What? Why?"

"We don't know. Someone named Melas Kardia came, he said something to Epros about the key being found and how they needed a lock…We have to find the others."

"Where are they?"

Ari racked his brain, trying to remember.

"Epros went to Triste, I think, that is…if he finished with Rashelo. Big Bull went to Madril and got Kisling…"

Ari continued to explain, and Stan said he'd go get them. He left quickly, and Rosalyn stared after him suspiciously.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

She put her hand on her elbow, resting her chin on her hand. "I don't think Stanley is the type to leave to help others…"

Ari nodded, searching his memories of Stan. True. But that probably wasn't important.

They headed back to the house, Ari filling Rosalyn in of every little detail he could until they reached the manor. Marlene came out; looking worried, followed closely by Annie.

"Oh, Rosalyn." Marlene said unhappily. "You heard?"

She nodded and Ari pushed his hair back with a sigh. "Spill it, where did you go?"

Rosalyn explained to them about someone called the Oblivion Emperor, and how he was going to destroy the worlds or something like that.

Ari stared, his mind working quickly. "I'm suspicious." He admitted. He winced at Rosalyn's facial expression. "Not about you, but about Stan. I don't want to think that, but he may-"

"Then don't think it, Slave!" Stan's voice called, storming through the trees with Epros, Big Bull, and Kisling close behind. Annie ran back into the house, yelling about something to her parents.

"That was fast." Rosalyn observed, talking about both Annie and Stan.

The Evil King didn't say anything, just walked over to Ari.

"We have to get everyone Infected, before those clouds start to rain."

Something like thunder, but longer and more ground shaking tore through the air.

Stan pulled out an odd, silver bug and turned to everyone. "Kisling, get over here, you pathetic excuse for a scholar."

"I would like to be acquainted with the greater minutiae of the internal mechanism of this insect previous to-"

Stan dropped the bug onto Kisling's outstretched arms and watched it crawl.

"I'll explain later, but know Rosalyn did it and she's fine."

Kisling let the bug bite him, and Ari grimaced watching the scholar stumble a bit. Suddenly, Epros spoke, and Ari hadn't even known the Phantom was there.

"What exactly did you do? Okay or not, I ask this of you."

Stan smirked. "We have to corrupt them, or this Oblivion Emperor is going to do what his name says, wipe out Light."

Ari watched Kisling on the ground, feeling helpless, when suddenly is occurred to him…

"What about me, and Marlene?"

Rosalyn grimaced. "You don't have to, but Marlene does."

Marlene…oh no. And watching Kisling proved it wasn't pain free. Finally Rosalyn bent down and removed the bug; there was no blood but two small, round, deep holes. The bug whirred, its stained glass wings flashing, eyes bulging like tiny rubies.

Big Bull asked, "Do I need to-"

"No, you muscle bound ghost, nor does Epros, or anyone else, just Marlene now." Stan grinned evilly. "And the rest of the family."

"W-what? Why don't I need to?"

"I'm very confident your deviant status protects you."

Ari watched in horror as Marlene stepped forward, eyeing the bug nervously. He took her hand, smiling worriedly.

"It'll be okay." He promised.

She flashed him a weary smile in return before sticking her arm out and closing her eyes. The bug was placed there, and he watched it bury its little fangs in her arm. No blood, but its eyes flashed like tiny lanterns.

"How long?" He asked in a tight voice, hanging onto Marlene as she collapsed. Kisling was still knocked out.

"Depends on how much Light the guy has." Stan answered. "Or so Kisling guessed, in the World Library. I'll tell you when."

Rosalyn asked suddenly, "Where's the bug from?"

Stan scratched his head, looking confused. "K.T. just…gave it to me; she was outside the World Library."

Marlene's eyes were rolling in her head, and Ari was gripping her hand so tightly his own hurt.

Finally, during a time period that seemed like forever, Stan removed the bug.

"How long 'till the Don wakes up?" Big Bull asked. "And the Doc?"

"Beats me. Depends on the Light. Rosalyn took about an hour." Stan smirked, and the Hero glared, turning her head.

When she turned her head, hair swishing, everyone saw it.

"I have just now seen your ears. What has happened, they're as pointed as shears." Epros sounded tired, that rhyme was pretty bad too.

"What? Um…it's Stan's fault." She grumbled.

***

Ari sat with Marlene in her room, holding on to her hand, and waiting for her to wake up. She looked different already, as the venom from that bug took effect…

"Come on. It's been almost an hour." He whispered. As if his voice brought her back, Marlene opened her ruby eyes, staring around.

"What's going on?" She asked groggily, her hand tightening on his own. Ari breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm so happy you're awake. How do you feel?"

She didn't answer, just sat up, rubbing her head. The bed creaked slightly with every movement.

Ari smiled, sitting next to her. "Kisling woke up a little while ago."

"That is good, I suppose."

He tipped his head to the side, since that answer wasn't something Marlene would have come up with. Or…not the real one at least…the real one would have said, "That's very good", or something like that.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked, at a loss for what to say.

"Get me some tea, I don't feel very well…"

Ari stood up, raising an eyebrow. "Get you some tea…?" He waited for the word that Marlene usually ended up giggling, since she sometimes forgot about it. Then he decided it wasn't necessary for her to say "please" right now. He quickly rushed down the stairs, setting some tea on to boil. He found Rosalyn there too, but she didn't say anything so neither did he.

Oh man. Something just occurred to him.

Was it possible…that…

The Infectus turned her back to the old Marlene, the Marlene he knew, like the doll?


	9. Chapter Six: Rising Rain

Chapter Six: The Rising Rain

_**I'm in a good mood and decided to write some more.**_

_*******_

Ari was gathered around with everyone in the kitchen. His whole family had been bitten, and Stan had informed him that the Infectus couldn't infect anyone else for a few days, something about the way it worked. That wouldn't be a big deal, usually, but unfortunately the clouds above them were scheduled to start "raining up" or some such nonsense in the morning. Ari felt terrible, constantly brooding over everything.

"What about Julia?" He asked at some point.

"What about her?" Marlene snapped. Ari ignored her. Stan just smirked.

"I think she has enough Darkness to not get destroyed. Most people will survive, but it's hard to tell. Yes, some people will be wiped out." Rosalyn explained. She sounded like the knowledge was killing her.

Ari sat silently, listening to the others talk about the circumstances that had led to this dreadful summit. Twice he got up to get Marlene something, but otherwise he did nothing but listen.

"Apparently, there's someone who can help us. I've been translating this book as best I can," Stan pointed to the old book in his hands. "We could try to find someone called Shiro Ryu, or the 'white dragon', but this guy is apparently _in_ the Spiritus."

"Obviously we need to find the Spiritus." Rosalyn said.

Kisling kept running his fingers over his pointed ears. "At the present, allegedly, given that Marlene is frequently in close contact with Beiloune, or was at any rate, conceivably she knows somewhat about something on the whereabouts of the Spiritus, and in turn, Shiro Ryu, and possibly even Addonexus."

Everyone said tiredly, "English?"

"Maybe Princess Marlene knows something about where her father got his power?"

Everyone looked at the Princess, and she sighed.

"I don't remember, actually. Unfortunately, my father never did tell me much."

"Well aren't you useful?" Stan sneered.

They launched into another argument, and Ari pondered on how strangely Marlene was acting. He had to face the facts; she probably got reverted, thanks to that stupid bug. Now she was back to her usual "polite but rude" self.

The longer they talked, the more annoyed he got, until he simply left and went to stand outside. It was pitch black, so dark he could barely see if it hadn't been for the lantern hanging outside. He sat down on the porch and looked up at the thick, cloudy sky.

A chill wind blew, and when someone sighed, Ari realized he wasn't alone. He moved his head to the left and thought he saw a faint silhouette.

"Epros?"

The phantom didn't say anything, just sighed again and looked at a pocket watch, apparently having no trouble seeing in the unnatural darkness. Something was hanging around his neck.

"Sorry about…Linda."

Epros glanced at him, red eyes narrowed in anger, but none of it was directed at Ari.

Deciding he didn't want to talk, Ari just stared at the sky.

***

Sleeping while one knows the land outside is going to start disintegrating is very difficult, as Ari found out that night.

He was a guy with little to say, and even less to do. He was helpless a lot, and now was the highest point in his life. He had to deal with the world starting to shatter, let Marlene purposely get hurt, and basically hope that his other friends in other cities are corrupt enough to survive the threat posed by this Addonexus guy.

Darn it all…

Ari frowned, sitting up in bed, glaring out the window. Why did all of this have to happen to him? He wondered sometimes…

Then it happened again. That all powerful rumble that was too deep and long to be thunder. He leaped to his feet, staring around, eyes moving back to the window. Then he saw it.

It floated past his window; a small chunk of tree, the bark was dark brown and wrinkled. Then another. And another. He watched in horror as the sky opened up, clouds moving in a lazy spiral like the first steps of a tornado, and more of the environment rose helplessly to meet it.

It was hard to see past the dark covering the scenery, but Ari saw enough to know what Stan had meant.

It was raining, upward.

More and more pieces reached toward the heavens, trees completely vanishing in the forest, leaving behind a barren wasteland. Strangely, no buildings moved, nothing reacted to the powerful winds except for the green, growing things outside. There was barely any sound, just the world's strangest weather…

Ari jumped, startled, when Epros floated up to his window and tapped on it. Ari opened it quickly, and Epros simply sat on the window sill, watching the silent destruction of everything around them, only punctured every once in a while by the rumbling noise that was not thunder.

"Ari!"

The boy in question jerked his head to the side, nodding at Marlene as she dashed into his room. Everyone soon came in, and watched the trees slowly getting ripped from their roots.

Rosalyn gripped her sword, like that would help somehow, leaning against the wall with her eyes widened in terror. Ari knew her; she would blame herself for anything happening to anyone, anywhere, since she was, in fact, the Great Hero…

Unexpectedly, the ground split slightly, like some thin mouth opening up for air. Pebbles clattered downward into their depths, and the life in the area continued to vanish.

No one knew how long it took for the trees to finally stop, but to Ari it felt like forever. When the terrible rising rain was over, and the clouds closed back up, blocking out what few rays of sunlight managed to pierce its heavy covering, the only tree left was a large, knobby oak.

Big Bull choked out something first.

"It's…gone."

"Terrible." Marlene whispered, hanging onto Ari's hand.

"Oh…no…" Rosalyn lowered her head, and Stan crossed his arms, pouting.

"See, this is the kind of stuff I can do when I get the Necomortis."

Epros smiled without humor. "This is something I must ask you, you pathetic Evil King. What makes you think you'll get such a thing?"

"Well, when we defeat Addonexus it has to go somewhere, right? Once I have that it will prove I am the only Evil King, moi-"

"No. You'll get that over my dead body!" Rosalyn hissed at Stan.

"That can be arranged." Stan chuckled evilly.

"The twosome of you must come to an end to this disagreement, what is imperative at present is finding out how many survived." Kisling said reasonably.

"I agree." Ari spoke up, earning a glare from Stan.

They left the house, saying good bye quickly to Ari's stunned family, and went to check out Tenel, since it was the closest.

The gate was open, hanging limply. The whole town was almost deserted, hiding in their homes, probably.

Or at least, Ari hoped they were.

Everything was hard to see, like it was night with no stars, though Ari was sure it had to be morning. Marlene walked alongside him with her usual brisk steps; head raised high, her red eyes flicking to the side uneasily.

Rosalyn kept walking, her hand tightening by her side instead of squeezing the handle to her parasol, like it usually did. Her lips were moving but Ari didn't know what she was saying to herself.

Stan had vanished, and Ari guessed the Evil King was probably in his shadow again.

Kisling just kept writing things down, if he was even partially evil, it was hard to tell. Big Bull and Epros were walking without looking to the side, but Big Bull's smile had faded, giving him an unusual look.

Ari knocked on the door of Julia's home, out of curiosity, ignoring Marlene's muttering. Nothing.

"No one's home. They went elsewhere." A voice behind them said. They all whirled around to see…the oddest thing ever.

It was a boy that looked exactly like Ari.

"It must be Melas!" Rosalyn declared, waving her sword at the look-a-like.

"Or, possibly, that kid with you is Melas." The Ari clone said in a calm tone.

Everyone looked at Ari, and Marlene spoke quickly.

"That is ridiculous, Ari has been with me since the rising rain, I'm one hundred percent sure this is _my _Ari."

The Ari clone frowned. "Aw man. That's no fun."

Rosalyn didn't wait, she just leaped forward and tried to jab her sword into the clone. In a flash of black light the Ari clone vanished, to be replaced with a tattered looking black crow, with green eyes devoid of pupils.

"Look, his eyes! Just like Melas! That must be him!" Big Bull shouted.

The crow shook its head furiously, flying to land on a sign.

"No, no! I'm not! Do you mean Melas Kardia?"

Stan appeared out of Ari's shadow, almost knocking him over.

"Yes we do, you insignificant worm! If you're not him, who are you?"

The crow continued to speak in his strange accent. "My name is Coracinus Versipellis!"

Kisling chuckled to himself. "That's Latin, is it not? It means the Black Shapeshifter! What an attention-grabbing case, I simply _must_ be obliged to-"

"We _need_ to get some answers! Okay, Coracinus, what do you want?" Stan demanded, overriding Kisling.

The crow cawed. "I'm looking to get revenge for my mother, for something Melas did to her. Are you after him too?"

"Yes." Epros replied.

"Excellent! Can I assist you?"

"Wait a moment; I want some proof of your good intentions!" Rosalyn said quickly.

Coracinus paused, head to the side. "How so?"

"Um…" Stan stuttered, looking confused. "What about…"

"You must find our friend Linda, she's been kidnapped you see. Find her whereabouts so we may set her free." Said Epros.

Coracinus Versipellis spread his wings lifting into the sky, and started circling Rosalyn.

"You're looking for this Linda girl? You want me to find her? What does she look like?"

Ari quickly explained what Linda looked like to the Black Shapeshifter, and the crow cawed in distress.

"Melas got her? That's terrible! But I bet I know where she is!" The crow landed on Ari's shoulder, green eyes staring back into his own. "Where would you guys go, so I have some vague idea where you might be when I get the info?"

"We'll be visiting each city, looking for survivors and clues. We'll go in the order the Stone Circles are set up, and if we're not there, try the World Library or the manor near here." Rosalyn explained.

Epros quickly handed the crow the necklace, and with a caw Coracinus took it. "Give this to Linda; it's a gift from me to her. She knows what it is; she knows what it's for."

Coracinus nodded, taking off again. "See you soon!"

When the crow had vanished onto the horizon, Stan grumbled,

"Let's go to Madril then, and hope these people are just shut up in their homes."


	10. Secret Journal 3

_**Secret Journal:**_

_I'm often caught in between._

_I'm often helpless._

_There are several moments in my life I wish I could change, but I can't. _

_I never got bit by the Infectus, but maybe hanging out with Stan has affected me somehow._

_Then why am I thinking about what I can do with the Spiritus…?_


	11. Chapter Seven: Truth

Chapter Seven: Truth

The last thing Linda remembered was Epros, staring at her with wide, frantic, scared red eyes. Then she had been basically dragged into the air, kicking and trying to scream, but unable to. Then she just remembered darkness.

She was just now waking up, in some kind of dark prison cell, where light seemed to have decided to go on vacation.

"You're awake." A voice said to her before she could even get her thoughts together. She lifted her head, terrified, watching the smirk spread across the strange, shadowy face of Melas.

"Don't worry; you won't be in here for long." He promised, smirking nastily.

"What are you going to do with me?" Such a cliché line, but it was needed.

"Nothing really. At the moment."

"What are you talking about?" Linda asked, confused. But Melas simply left.

***

Linda wasn't sure how long she was in the cell; she just knew she slept a lot…most of the time, really. It seemed like an eternity without any human contact, or ghost contact, but finally someone came.

It was a light fluttering noise, really quick though. She lifted her head, surprised, and watched as something flew in through the bars of her window.

A delicate, black moth.

"What?" She whispered, leaning forward to look at it.

The moth compressed, transforming, and reared up in the shape of a sleek black cat. It opened its pupiless green eyes and blinked at her.

"Melas?" She pulled back quickly, but the cat shook its head. It spoke in a quick voice, staring around.

"No, not Melas. I'm Coracinus. Ari and the others sent me!"

She had never been happier to hear the Evil King's slave name.

"Ari!" Her eyes lit up, and she leaned forward to hear the cat's frantic whispers.

"I knew you'd be up here. You're in a floating citadel in the clouds above your continent. I don't know how the others will get here, but-"

"You're not going to leave, are you?" Linda hated being alone, it reminded her too much of her time before she met Coach and the others.

"I have to." Coracinus admitted. "But I'll be back, Epros told me to give you this." The cat removed a necklace from somewhere, seemingly just from behind it, and handed it to Linda.

She held it tight, and then slipped it over her head. "Thank you! Come back soon!"

Coracinus turned back to a moth, and then fluttered away.

Alone again, at least for the time being, Linda leaned against the wall, stroking the black gem.

All alone.

***

Ari was surprised to hear that the Stone Circles had stopped working.

"Apparently, these things are connected to the environment." Rosalyn grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. That's not going to help us now. Let's head for Madril." Stan grumbled.

They set off, and Ari couldn't tear his eyes away from the environment.

The river was still flowing, but it looked dark and black just like the sky. There was just enough light to cast a shadow, but it was barely noticeable against the darkened landscape. The fields, once bright green with healthy grass was now streaked with openings in the earth, and tattered trees drooped towards the pits. Patches of landscape seemed to have survived, like the Big Tree Hole, but some areas were completely and utterly destroyed.

Rosalyn frowned, staring at the environment. She walked closer to Ari, and she spoke in a quiet tone.

"Look at what's happened."

For away, in the distance, there was the faintest gleam of sunlight, but everything else looked depressing and dark.

Ari decided to comfort his friend.

"Remember, the bleaker the night, the greater the sunrise at dawn."

She nodded distractedly, glaring at Stan who was going on and on about how this was almost an improvement to the old landscape.

Big Bull was trying to break up their argument, Kisling was muttering something while running the soil of the ground through his fingers, and Epros was silent. Marlene kept interjecting her opinion into the conversation.

It was hard to tell what time they came to Madril. The gear doorway was partially open, and Stan had to go into his shadow form just to unjam the door. The city wasn't empty; some people were out talking about what had happened.

A sighing lady said, "Sigh. I knew something like this would occur. I just _knew _it."

A frowning faced man said, "I can't believe this has happened!"

Ari knew usually there was someone with them, a young man that believed in justice. He must not have made the cut.

The few people that were out crowded around Rosalyn, demanding to know what had happened.

"Please, one at a time." The Hero raised her hands and frowned, trying to get the crowd to settle down. "Everyone, really, just-"

"SHUT UP!" Stan rose out of the ground, his shadow form towering above everyone. Immediately, everyone started blaming Stan for what had happened.

"I _wish_ I could take credit for this! No, this isn't my fault. DON'T POKE THAT THING AT ME! Slave, get rid of that man with the sword."

Ari rolled his eyes and snatched the sword from the skill-less man holding it.

"Ari, Ari what's happened?" Robert, a young boy that was the leader of the Whisker Mole Team in the higher portion of Madril shoved his way to the front.

"It's a long story. Can we go somewhere less…?" He smiled, gesturing helplessly to everyone around them.

"Professor Kisling, sir, what's happened?" Someone asked.

Kisling raised his voice above everyone's, and eager to hear what was going on, they all quieted down.

"It appears some variety of a dominant spirit has ambushed our diminutive planet, and by means of the haze above us, siphoned life away from the surroundings, for unidentified reasons. The motives of this life form, the 'Oblivion Emperor', are generally undisclosed, but he has some sort of supremacy that derives from an item called the Necomortis. This item can only be counteracted by something called the Spiritus, which we deem is in the possession, or was anyway, of Beiloune. Does anyone distinguish where this said human being is?"

Everyone was mostly confused, and Big Bull explained it simply.

"There's this dude stealing life from the world, and he's powerful. We need something to beat him up, and this something is owned by Beiloune. Where is he?"

While everyone chattered, Robert beckoned for the friends to come with him to his home, and left Kisling and Big Bull alone to explain the situation.

"Who is this boy?" Asked Marlene, staring at Robert. If Robert noticed, he didn't react.

"Guys, what's going on?"

Ari stepped forward. "We're just checking up on the cities while we look for where Beiloune might be."

"The Chamberlain dude that's usually with her?" Dill, a friend of Maggie's jerked his thumb toward Marlene.

"Can she call him?" Robert asked thoughtfully, scratching his head.

Marlene looked contemplative while everyone stared at her.

"Not that I know of." She admitted. "But if Father is anywhere, he is most likely in the World Library."

"The Stone Circles don't work. How are we going to get to the Highlands?" Stan demanded.

"The Gear Tower is in possession of a fake Stone Circle, is it not?" Marlene asked.

"That's true. But will it work with the others not working?" Ari asked. They looked at Epros, who had made the thing in the first place.

"It will not work with the others out of commission; to turn them back on is our current mission." The magician said.

"That's that then!" Rosalyn said, clearly eager to move on.

Robert placed his hand up. "Wait a moment, guys."

They all paused, Stan reared up out of Ari's shadow.

"What is it?" He asked irritably.

"Where's Maggie?"

"Who?" Growled the Evil King.

"Maggie!" Robert basically screamed. "The leader of the Spotted Cat team!?"

"How the heck do we know?"

"She's been gone ever since those clouds came!"

Rosalyn sighed, turning her head to the side. "She must have been destroyed along with the rest of the environment."

"WHAT?!"

"Calm down, will you? I lied." Stan said smugly.

Silence.

"What?" Rosalyn demanded.

"If you have a strong Light side, then you won't be destroyed. All of the rest have just been thrown into a sort of negative state. They're in a separate state from us, still here, but unnoticeable, like how Ari was in the Ignored state."

Ari gestured for everyone to step back while Rosalyn drew her sword and pointed it at Stan.

"I didn't have to get bitten?!"

"You did, woman. You wouldn't have died, but you wouldn't have been useful in the other state, now would you? Not that you're useful now." Stan snickered.

Robert interrupted then before they got into an argument.

"Where's Maggie, and how can I help her?"

"When the Necomortis is nearby, it affects the area. The darkness had basically overwhelmed the light, and the girl must be hidden underneath the shadows. For example….she could be standing with her hand on your shoulder right now, but you wouldn't see or feel it."

Robert touched his shoulder, and then glanced up at Ari.

"Fix this. Now."

"We're on it." Rosalyn promised before Ari could reply, and the friends left the Madril


	12. Chapter Eight: Traveling

Chapter Eight: Traveling

Rosalyn and Stan refused to talk or interact to each other in any way, save for speaking to the other through Ari.

"Slave, tell that Hero woman that her silence will never outlast mine. I will not speak to her until she stops acting so self righteously."

With a sigh, Ari repeated the message to Rosalyn, who said back just as quickly,

"Tell that moronic shadow that he can say that to my face!"

It unfortunately continued along this line for a long time, and our poor Hero was trapped in this little net until the sound of wing beats could be heard.

"Is that Cora….Cora...Is that Black?" Big Bull grunted.

"Why yes Big Bull, I believe it is the Black Shapeshifter, returned from his endeavor at locating Linda!" Kisling said.

Epros looked up hopefully as the crow landed on Ari's head.

"What do you know, you oversized feather cushion?" Stan demanded.

"Just as I thought, Linda's up there in the clouds." The bird pointed his beak upwards.

"Explain in some superior facet." Kisling asked politely.

Coracinus bobbed his head. "Okay. There's a big citadel that serves as the headquarters of Addonexus's second in command, Melas Kardia. Not only that, but Linda is up there in a jail cell."

"That isn't important at the moment, where's Addonexus?" Stan said with a snarl. This earned him several angry looks and a killer death stare from Epros.

The Black Shapeshifter shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I say somewhere in the Diablerie? Since he has the Necomortis it should be stable enough to live in now, but with the Spiritus gone, I'm not sure _how _stable."

"You kept your word and now I keep mine. You're welcome on this-"

Interrupting Epros, Stan growled, "You're not welcome here! Go with Linda and hide out with her, that little nuisance is probably terrified at the moment!"

Coracinus turned his pupiless eyes on Stan. "Fine, _your Majesty_. I intended to go back to Linda anyway." With an angry squawk the bird took off again.

With Coracinus gone everything went back to its routine, until they reached Rashelo.

"We can't keep doing this, we have to either activate the Stone Circles or find some way to scale into those clouds." Rosalyn said as the friends slumped down in the Inn.

Ari agreed while the others discussed possible ways to enter the atmosphere. The only thing they came up with was finding the Spiritus and hoping it could elevate them somehow.

"Why not? It can be capable of creating a new World Order so air travel seems somewhat feasible at the moment," Kisling said.

Epros wanted to go rescue Linda alone, but the others disagreed heavily with him. However, the former Phantom Evil King wasn't going to be swayed from his decision.

"Fine, go if you want." Stan grumbled, leaning against the wall. "Find Linda and that Shapeshifter, and see if you can't come up with some kind of escape route."

Epros left that same night, and the others began talking again. Rosalyn thought they didn't have to go up if they could lure Melas down here, but Stan argued the most important thing wasn't the demon, it was finding Addonexus.

They agreed to look for the Spiritus, which meant they were still in a bad predicament over how to get to the Highlands without the Stone Circles, which once again meant they argued for a while before deciding to locate K.T. and the woman from Wap Wap Island. The woman because she lived there, and K.T. because the lady seemed to know a lot, and looked like the twin to the woman. They might even be the same person.

"Should we split up?" Big Bull asked after a while.

This brought about some more argument before they got to a decision.

"We don't have time; we might need to split up. Okay, Ari why don't you come with me and Big Bull, we'll try to lure Melas down. The sooner we get rid of him, the better." Rosalyn began.

"You were not there, Rosalyn." Marlene disagreed. "Ari was, and even he could not hurt that demon. I think we shouldn't split up, right, Ari?" She gave him that puppy dog stare that he always agreed with.

"Grow a backbone!" Stan roared at Ari before grumbling, "It's true though, we shouldn't split up. We need to find K.T. and that woman from Wap Wap."

The plan finally mapped out, the friends agreed to head for Triste and see if anyone knew where the gatekeeper to the town had went.

***

Linda lifted her head hopefully at the sound of wings fluttering. The black moth sailed through the window and transformed into the black cat.

"Coracinus!" She whispered, leaning forward, glad for his company. She only left the cell every once in a while, and one time in particular had frightened her the most, because Melas had almost noticed her necklace. She was afraid that'd he take the little piece of Epros she had with her.

"Hey, Linda. I'm back. The others are going to try and break you out. I'm supposed to keep a low profile and hang out with you." The cat meowed, flicking his tail.

Linda leaned against the wall with a sigh. "I'm not the main priority, am I?"

The cat made a purring, growling noise in its throat. "No, unfortunately. At least, not to that Stan guy. Everyone else thinks rescuing you is very important."

Linda frowned. "It's a trap, I think. What if I'm just bait?"

Coracinus shrugged, laying his head on his paws. "I'm not sure what to say on that matter."

Time passed by, and Linda asked after finishing a little song,

"What's your real form look like?"

"A…shadowy dragon, like Melas." Coracinus had shifted into a less noticeable black rat, hiding close to Linda and in her shadow, almost completely invisible were it not for his green eyes.

"Oh." She mumbled, leaning against the wall.

"I'm curious on the people you call friends." Coracinus said after a while.

"They're my _best _friends. Even Marlene, she's a little snob sometimes though."

"Marlene would be the one in the red dress?" Amusement laced the Shapeshifter's voice.

"Yeah."

More silence between them, and then Linda heard the voice of someone she had feared she would never hear again.

"Linda."

***

They left Rashelo rather discreetly, heading for the rocky hills around the statues that opened up and led to Pospos Snowfields, which would then be a cold hike in the ice toward Triste.

What puzzled Ari the most was the extreme lack of ghosts in the area, the ones they did run into didn't seem too thrilled to engage themselves in combat with the traveling party.

"They're afraid of moi-"

"No they're not Stan. Must be some other reason." Rosalyn said with an irritated sigh.

However, the path wasn't going to be clear either. Something large and four legged thumped down onto the ground in front of the tunnel, clacking its beak and spreading its wings wide.

"Your journey ends, now!"


	13. Secret Journal 4

_**Secret Journal:**_

_I feel like something is devouring me, dragging me into the flames._

_I feel cold and hot at the same time; I always wonder what Melas is doing with her._

_Is she hurt? Is she worrying about me?_

_I never got to tell her. That is my fault, I know._

_I'm sorry. Let this be the first step toward my apology._


	14. Chapter Nine: Escape

Chapter Nine: Escape

_**In answer to a question, yeah, I was going to make everyone go…"bye" when the darkness came, but my brother thought it'd be better if I didn't, so I had to borrow a concept from Twilight Princess. (Even though I wasn't going to let everyone be dead long anyway).**_

_**Also, Coracinus is only going to hang around for a few chapters before something happens to him, and he won't be involved when the story reaches its climax.**_

_**And yes, Ari wasn't bitten, but there's a reason behind these train of thoughts.**_

_*******_

Linda stared in disbelief, looking around.

"Epros?" She whispered.

Scrambling to his paws, Coracinus glanced left and right, his eyes shining in the dark.

"Do not react; keep up your silent act." Epros whispered back quickly. "We will speak again the next night, and then I will remove you from this plight."

The strange presence she had felt behind her was suddenly gone.

"How does he do that?" Linda asked, wishing she had her microphone, it was comforting somehow. However, Melas had taken it to some sort of storage center.

Coracinus shrugged, settling down in her shadow again.

***

Linda could hardly wait for the next night, she felt like butterflies had given up fluttering in her stomach and had simply started up a jackhammer instead. Worried that Epros might have been noticed by Melas, and whatever other weird ghosts on duty, she could barely sleep.

Halfway through the next day, a question came to mind.

"Coracinus?"

The rat lifted his head. "Hmm?"

"How did you know where I was?"

He sighed, curling his tail around his paws. "I used to work here. It's a long story."

"We have time." Linda said with a smile, clutching the necklace.

"Nothing…really…I don't like to just preach my life story. Let's just say something happened that made me have to leave. That made _all_ of us Shapeshifter demons have to leave our home."

Linda shrugged, deciding it wasn't really her business.

Nightfall finally came, tingeing the already dark sky an even blacker hue. Linda swallowed nervously, turning her head to the side, looking around.

She felt the familiar presence behind her, and suddenly Epros was there. Before she could ask or say anything, he covered her mouth and made a shushing noise.

"How did you get in?" Coracinus asked, rising to his paws and transforming into a cat in the same motion.

"As the Former Phantom Evil King, tricks and spells are always my thing."

Linda had a guess at how they would escape, since Epros could float up here, she could probably go with him, especially since Coracinus could escape himself.

"Wait, before we leave, we need to get my things!" She said. Some items could be replaced, but it was hard to say when it came to others. Epros frowned, and then nodded.

"To escape the way I'm thinking we will, we need to get to the little balcony down the hall." Coracinus added, arching his back.

"That is true, you black cat. Do you have a form more powerful than the one you're at?"

The Black Shapeshifter changed into a large black wolf, almost the size of a small bear.

"Wait; what stops you from turning into…I don't know…a dragon?" Linda asked him.

Coracinus made a face. "I'm a young Shapeshifter, I can only manage some forms, and others are out of my league."

Epros slipped his hand through the door, something he could do, being a phantom, and unlocked it. He quickly opened it, and revealed the empty corridors.

"If you are so important, why are you unguarded?" Coracinus said thoughtfully to himself.

Linda hummed, "I don't know", and then stepped out into the hallway, gripping Epros's hand. He looked down at her and smiled before silently levitating across the floor.

"Coracinus, be swift, find her bag. Take too long and behind you will lag."

The wolf nodded, transforming and shrinking into a little black bat that winged away down the hallway.

Linda silently followed Epros, who kept flattening himself to the wall and looking around every corner. Twice they came across two patrolling ghosts, but they didn't notice the duo as they carefully crept toward their goal.

She was about to ask why he didn't just teleport, but then she remembered something he had told her once. Whenever he teleported, he could be traced by someone familiar with the magic, not to mention he said someone could feel that magic rift if they're sensitive enough to it. Then, Melas could track them down directly, and they would probably lead him to their friends. No, a direct escape was necessary. As long as they didn't use too much magic they couldn't be traced.

Paw steps were heard behind them, and Epros whirled around, cards in a flurry around him, only to almost slash Coracinus in the face.

"Hey, cut it out." The Shapeshifter grumbled, earning a soft giggle from Linda for the pun. Unfortunately, three ghosts appeared at that moment, two nameless swords and some kind of ghost armor. Epros's cards whirled out and slashed into the armor, and Linda grabbed her bag from Coracinus and quickly yanked her microphone out.

Dropping the bag, Coracinus leaped forward and tackled a sword, rolling over and over, snarling quietly.

The ghosts taken care of, they prepared to sneak off again, but Coracinus's ears flicked up.

"An alarm was sounded. Run!"

They broke out into a dash, racing down the hallways, taking twists and turns. Coracinus whirled around to take the growing crowd of enemies, yelling for the other two to continue.

Epros and Linda reached the balcony, and Epros looked down at her.

"Hold on tight, then maybe everything will be all right."

Linda hugged him tightly, and he wrapped his arms around her. Then he simply jumped off the ledge, and she screamed as they plummeted toward the sea of clouds below them. Linda looked back, and saw what they had jumped off of.

A large, floating castle with tall spires and towers, all colored a dull red. Suddenly, Linda realized…

"What about Coracinus?"

Epros paused in midair, looking back at the castle just as a loud whimper was heard. Something large and black-grey, resembling some kind of lizard-bird was holding down a black dog which was yelping in fear.

Linda stared in horror as, right before Epros plummeted through the clouds again and engulfed her vision, she heard Coracinus scream,

"Keep going!"

They landed on the ground, somewhere outside of Triste. Linda dropped into the snow covered landscape, even though large patches were now stone. She realized she was trembling, and brought her legs to her chest, taking deep breaths.

"Did he…die?"

Epros sighed, sitting beside her. He looked really tired, rubbing his eyes.

"No."

"How do you know?" Linda demanded. Even though she didn't really know him well, Coracinus had kept her company. He couldn't take on Melas…He couldn't turn to anything as powerful as that demonic creature.

"Of this I am certain, it is not yet time for our friend's final curtain." He hugged her tightly, stroking her hair.

Linda hoped he was right, and she leaned against him.

"You came back." She whispered.

"Of course I came back for you. It wasn't time for us to say adieu."

"Where are the others?"

"Traveling to Triste, or so I hope, which is why we're now sitting on this slope. On another note…" He turned to look at her. "I'm sorry, again, for that earlier day. What do you have to say?"

"I accept you apology." She said with a silly grin. Linda toyed with her microphone, and was surprised when Epros lifted her head with his finger and kissed her.

She knew one thing about Epros, he wasn't into kissing much. In fact, this was their first kiss, ever. Usually he just hugged her. She was so surprised that when it was over, she blushed and stared upward.

"Wow." She giggled, and Epros laughed a little. Suddenly…

Something collapsed in a feathery heap on the ground in front of them, a ragged bundle of black feathers.

"Coracinus!" Linda leaned forward to poke their friend. She felt sick, watching the black blood spew out from around the feathery heap.

Epros gently picked up the bundle. No wonder he had collapsed, the feathers on his left wing were matted with dark blood and bent the wrong way.

"Let's get to Triste, and see what the doctors have to say."

Linda scooped up the poor Shapeshifter and headed for the city.

***

Melas smiled thinly, once again in his true form, pacing the dark hallways of his castle.

The Phantom King thought himself clever, but no, the Black Heart had beaten him first. He chuckled to himself. Yes, let them escape with their precious friend, it would make no difference. A messenger had been sent out to contact their Evil King…

Yes, Melas knew there was no chance that the Shapeshifter he sent would actually beat them. It just had to get a message across, and then all would be fine.

He frowned, scaly face pulling down at the corners.

There weren't a lot of Shapeshifters, only seven. Himself, Tawnvele, Sargarious, Infernose, Leontore, Abterqen, and…Coracinus.

He tapped his long, clawed foot on the ground, tail swishing thoughtfully.

Coracinus, the youngest of the Shapeshifters, but also the most gifted. He could beat the others even with his weaker, less complex forms, using tricks instead. Yes, that was why he had let the whelp go, because in order to use the Spiritus…one must have someone they know on the other side.

"And I know you, don't I?" Melas Kardia smiled, causing the ghost guards to shiver as he passed by.

***

_**In case you're wondering, "Melas Kardia" is Greek for "Black Heart", hence why the chapter he makes his appearance in is called that. Even though the Seven Shapeshifters are mentioned in this story, not all of them are under Addonexus's control, you will only see about four of the Shapeshifters mentioned, we've already seen two, and one will soon fight our Heroes.**_

_**That just leaves one more. Be sure to review!**_


	15. Chapter Ten: Tawnvele's Disc

Chapter Ten: Tawnvele's Disc

_**I plan on changing my Username soon, to better match me. ^_^**_

_*******_

Rosalyn twisted just in time to avoid the griffin's talons as it sliced through the air. Bronze and gold feathers ringed ferocious yellow eyes as it thumped its wings and roared.

"It's never easy, is it?" Stan complained, rearing up out of Ari's shadow.

Rosalyn dodged again while the griffin roared, digging its claws into the ground. Furrows appeared, long and deep and dirt flung every which way. Rosalyn struck at its side, causing feathers to be shed in matted clumps on the ground.

Stan cracked his fingers, sending down a volley of black fire onto the demonic griffin. It roared, whirling around, only to get a face full of a flaming book and Big Bull's icy fists.

It shook then all off, stomping the ground, and sending shockwaves rippling across the environment. They were all knocked off their feet, and Marlene stepped far back, casting healing spells.

Ari went into Overdrive mode, sending a burst of the purplish neutral energy at the griffin. It took it, charging through the pain to bowl Ari over, catching him under one massive paw and biting his shoulder.

Ari twisted out of the griffin's grasp, ignoring the long gashes, and struck with a Thunder Sword spell. This just aggravated the griffin, causing it to rise into the air and attack Kisling, who was caught by the beast and thrown into the statue. He slid down, unconscious, until Marlene finished her spell and woke him back up.

The thing seemed invincible, no matter what they threw at it, it got back up, screaming and roaring.

Then, a terrible thing happened.

The griffin charged Marlene, catching her by the shoulder, finally noticing she was the one healing its prey. Before anyone could do anything, it rose into the air and slammed Marlene into the ground.

Ari panicked, rushing forward to help Marlene, casting Revive on her. The griffin back kicked him, sending the boy into the stone statue where he vanished into the depths of the tunnel. Big Bull ran to the griffin, catching its paws before it could slam Marlene again, who was still groggy.

"Get your paws off of the Don!" He grunted, shoving with all his strength. With a wild hiss the griffin collapsed backward, unbalanced, and Rosalyn struck it in its throat.

Black blood spurted from the wound covering her face and body completely. She sputtered, stepping back.

"That's disgusting!" She spat, tasting the metallic blood of the griffin on her tongue.

It thrashed wildly, claws and wings flapping too much for anyone to get close. Kisling, Ari, and Marlene all joined back up with everyone else as they watched it.

Stan turned into his solid form, sending a burst of dark fire at the griffin. The fire glanced off it, burning its feathers slightly, but not catching like it should.

"If this is your full power Stan, it's shameful." Rosalyn snapped.

Stan curled his lip. "Enough! It's not my fault! It's some kinda Shapeshifter; natural magic immunity."

"Shapeshifter?" Kisling asked, walking toward the beast. It had slowed down now, its head lower, wings flat, paws akimbo.

The griffin began to speak in a gurgled voice. "The…Devil Evil King…wishes to speak to the Shadow Evil King…alone…midnight…" It coughed, yellow eyes blurring. Its form began to disintegrate, dark tendrils lifting toward the sky, the brown and gold of its body vanishing.

"And where does this Devil King wish to see us?" Marlene asked, not looking up from fixing Ari's shoulder wound.

The griffin lifted its head, the yellow pupil fading into pure gold eyes. "Midnight…at…the curling cliff near Rashelo." Then the head vanished into black smoke, and nothing was left but a gold coin that clattered gently before collapsing on the ground.

Kisling picked the coin up, studying it. Big Bull lit a fire in his hand, and everyone studied the coin.

"Let me see." Growled Stan, putting his hand out. The coin was placed in his palm, and the Shadow Evil King studied it.

"I don't know what it is, might as well keep it. Slave!"

Ari stepped over to Stan.

"Keep this in your pack. I'm heading to the curling cliff." He dropped the coin into Ari's hand, and Ari nodded, looking at the gold disc.

"Wait, you're actually going to fight the Devil Evil King?" Rosalyn asked. No one else noticed the worry in her eyes, except Stan.

"Of course! How dare this pompous being come into _my _world and try to take it over?! No one bests Evil King Stan! This Devil Evil King is most likely none other than that Addonexus freak, I'm going to squash him flat!"

Kisling sighed. "Not to be rude, King Stan, but it is very probable that this is some kind of trap. He is probably a competent antagonist, principally since you can't deplete the landscape like this." He gestured to the barren environment.

Stan roared, "Do you think I care? I, Evil King Stan, can handle anything! Beiloune tried to show me up, and look what happened to him!"

"At least let me come." Ari said quietly.

Stan glared. "No, Slave. He said alone. Anyway, I don't need your help!"

Big Bull scratched his head. "Am I the only one who noticed the griffin dude said 'wishes to speak to'?"

Everyone stared, then:

"Most likely it'll turn into a confrontation. Just…come back, okay Stan? No one but me can kill you." Rosalyn said after a while.

Since everyone knew trying to persuade Stan to stop doing something is useless, they eventually let him go.

Stan turned and marched off, heading for the curling cliff.

"We still going to Triste?" Ari asked.

Rosalyn nodded, gesturing for the others to follow. "There's an Inn on the other side of this tunnel, might as well head there."

The tunnel was well lit thanks to the torches on the wall, but the air was cold, since the other end connected to the snowy Pospos fields.

Everyone walked in silence, some limping. Marlene had done her best, but sometimes rest was what you needed.

"Thank you, Big Bull, for dealing with the griffin." Marlene said. The ghost just grunted.

"No big deal, no one messes with the Don!"

Rosalyn grumbled something about, "getting snow to wash off griffin blood".

Reaching the other end of the tunnel, they got a room in the Inn, and rested for the night.

Ari was awake the longest, staring out the window, and found himself worried for Stan.

The guy was an Evil King, a jerk, stuck up, (did he mention Evil?), but he was still…his friend. The shadow that made him speak up and made him realize…his life was only overshadowed because he let it be.

Ari felt a hand on his shoulder, and knew it was Marlene.

"You should get some sleep, Ari. It'll be okay. And you'll need your rest for the morning." She smiled, and he nodded in return.

It had to be okay…right?


	16. Secret Journal 5

_**Secret Journal:**_

_Ari is always withdrawn, but lately he's been even more so. What's the matter with him? I can't figure it out. He wasn't bitten by the bug, but I'm beginning to wonder…if just being in this terrible darkness amplifies the inner darkness?_

_On our travels, Stan is crueler than usual. Even I feel worse. My memories say I don't act this way, and I try not to, but it happens anyway…_


	17. Chapter Eleven: Meeting

Chapter Eleven: Meeting

Stan walked along the path, his thoughts dark, like usual.

_How dare this Devil King try and fight me! How dare he try to challenge me?!_

**~A long stream of "How dare he" later…~**

Stan reached the curling cliff that stretched over the sea near Rashelo. The edge of the cliff curled in on itself, an interesting phenomena that attracted quite a crowd in the summer. Cliff diving was popular here, Rosalyn had even said that she had dived from here once…

Rosalyn.

Stan felt something rare, guilt, twist his heart. Stan knew why she was having nightmares, like his, but different. The Hero was too proud to say they scared her, but Stan knew she got up a lot at night to just…escape them.

It wasn't anywhere near midnight, so Stan sat down on the cliff, watching the waves but keeping his ears pricked for sound, and thought about his own dreams.

Usually it was darkness everywhere around him, which didn't bother the Evil King one bit, but then voices would come. Something about heralding the true king's arrival, and then he saw what must be the Spiritus, a white orb, and the Necomortis, a black one. Something was holding them and laughing, something with weird multicolored eyes. This being then released the Spiritus, and Beiloune would have it, then it went…somewhere.

Shaking his head, Stan decided not to think about some of the more violent nightmares, and closed his eyes.

Rosalyn. Poor Rosalyn. She didn't know what the darkness was doing to her yet. It was what he had wanted, but then he thought, maybe the reason he liked Rosalyn was because she was the opposite of him…

_I never thought like this before. Being in a bottle for three hundred years made me soft._

_And…_ He paused, frowning. _She's changing me, darn her!_

These thoughts continued for a long time, while Stan waited for midnight.

***

Coracinus felt groggy. He groaned, opening his eyes. His vision was different than a human, some color humans don't have a name for framed the edges of his sight. Not only that, but his vision was slightly clearer and a little more oval than any human or ghost.

He blinked, seeing someone staring at him. "Linda?"

She clapped her hands, grinning. "Coracinus! You're awake!"

Coracinus sat up, realizing he had started to break down into a wispy form. Shadowy bits near his wings and feet were just floating there, like a frozen fog. He gathered himself up, shaking his head to clear it, and tiredly dragged his body into another form, this one a cat.

"How do you feel?" She asked, green eyes sympathetic.

"Not very well." He groaned, laying his head on his paws. "Where's Epros?"

Linda giggled. "He went out for dinner or somethin', we need supplies too. We suspect Ari and the others should be here soon."

Coracinus nodded, shaking his head tiredly. He was still exhausted, and his tail was beginning to disintegrate to black wisps again.

"You're not dying, are you?" Linda asked in a panicked tone.

"No. Just takes a lot of concentration to hold a form up." The Black Shapeshifter closed his eyes and was snoring before Linda could say anything else.

***

Stan heard it behind him. The almost inaudible noise of a cloak swishing. He stood up and turned around, staring at the figures.

There were two. One was tall, taller than him even, between seven and eight feet. The other was only at his shoulder height.

Height never bothered Stan before, Beiloune had been a fourteen foot monstrosity and he still kicked his butt.

Stan smirked. "Which one of you is the Devil Evil King?"

The taller figure chuckled. His voice was like ice sliding over your skin, cold and unfeeling.

"That would be me." His accent was heavier than any ghost had now, the accent you got from something long ago.

Stan laughed. "You had to bring a guard?" He gestured to the smaller figure in the black cloak, which didn't as much as twitch.

The Devil King bowed. "T'was true, I suppose. Hard to tell with Evil Kings, you may decide to backstab me right now! You're dismissed." He added to his guard, who vanished in a swirl of darkness.

"What do you want, you wannabe? You're too chicken to face me yourself? Is that why you sent that griffin after us?"

Addonexus sat down in midair, crossing his legs. His long black cloak completely protected his entire body, Stan had no idea what he looked like, aside for the fact he was humanoid.

"Calm down, Shadow Evil King Stanley HiHat Trinidad the Fourteenth. And yes, I sent my Shapeshifter, Tawnvele, after you. I'm glad it managed to deliver the message."

Stan crossed his arms. "So you _have _heard of me. What do you want?"

Addonexus put his long fingers together, the gloves not hiding the fact he had extensive nails underneath.

"I want to talk about _you_, King Stanley. I must ask…" He twirled his finger, and red patterns appeared in the air. They formed themselves into words, while the hooded figure continued to speak.

"What made you fall for a mortal, hmm?"

Stan laughed contemptuously. "I didn't fall for her; this is part of my plan. I'll strike her down when she least suspects it!"

Addonexus didn't react, but the red in the air spelled out "Rosalyn".

"Do not lie, King Stanley. I'm full aware of your relationship with her."

The words transformed into a red orb, which depicted the sleeping figures of Ari and the others. Rosalyn glowed gold.

Stan scowled. "Maybe so, fine. But she's not important. I want you _out _of this world, even if I have to take you down myself!"

"I did not come here to fight." Addonexus politely disagreed.

"I did!" Stan shot down thunder, blasted fire, and shot ice at the Devil King all at once. The red orb broke up into little shards that formed a shield and took the blunt of the attack. Everything else simply parted and went around it. Addonexus hadn't even moved.

Stan stared, feeling the immense drop in his energy from using any "Friendly" attack without his Slave's help.

Addonexus stood up to his full imposing height. "Quite finished, Evil King Stanley? I have just one thing to say. You better listen to _exactly _what I articulate, or Rosalyn will not survive the night."

"No one tells Evil King Stan what to do!" Stan roared, but feared flickered in his chest. Darn that love, it gave him a weakness!

Addonexus laughed, that was all.

"Are you listening?"

Stan needed to think, he wanted to consider about what was more important to him…

"Why would I listen to a wannabe afraid to show his face?!"

The Devil Evil King sighed, pulling his hood back. The face behind it was like a canine, sloped and round, but the skin was black, and there was no fur. His face was locked in a constant skeletal grin, the teeth thin and sharp, his ears pointed likewise. His skin danced with designs of fire, the tattoos glowing brightly, shining light out in a dull radiance. The eyes were amazing, black on the outside, and then ridged by orange, yellow, gold, and finally red in the very middle, flanked by blue and white. The irises were diagonal, cutting across his eyes.

Stan spat out the word for the type of ghost that was considered to be extinct.

"Hellhound."

Addonexus laughed, crossing his arms. His cloaked was burned off in a flash, revealing his body to be long and powerfully built, his tail swished from side to side, and his entire body was covered with strange designs that glowed. The tattoos were long and thin, wide in some places, and completely covered the back of his legs in orange light. With each tail swish ash from the cloak was shed on the ground.

"Do you want to listen to my proposal, Evil King Stanley?" His eyes shone.

Stan considered everything in his life in an impossibly fast time.

"I'm listening."

***

_**Stan's got a trick up his sleeve. He's very mad right now you're even considering he is working for a lower class evil being like Addonexus. Be sure to review.**_


	18. Brief Interlude: Hero's Nightmare

Hero's Nightmare

_Shadows leaped and danced at the edges of Rosalyn's vision, but whenever she turned around there was never anything there. She faced forward again and gasped, watching the world around her burn into ashes. A man so bloodied she couldn't make out much features limped heavily toward her, moaning her name. She stepped back, hand over her mouth, trying not to retch._

"_Why didn't you save us?" The ghost moaned, a clammy hand reaching for her._

"_I…didn't know…" How could she let this happen? She was a Hero. Heroes don't fail._

_She skipped back, trying to avoid more of the specters._

"_Why, Hero Rosalyn?"_

"_Why didn't you get her?"_

"_What are you talking about?" She struggled to keep the panic out of her voice. It was a rule, be calm…_

"_You don't know who _she_ is?" A familiar voice said behind her. "How sad."_

_Rosalyn turned around, face to face with the demonic version of herself, fangs bared. She touched her own ears; rounded…her clone had pointed ears and fangs, and a snake-like tongue._

"_Can't fight yourself, can't save yourself. How long until the darkness swallows you? The Infectus always wins…" Her clone hissed, the fire dancing off of her face. Yellow eyes glared brighter than the fire, and she laughed._

"_Unable to fight. Unable to run. You freeze in fear, Rosalyn!"_

"_Wake up…wake up…" Rosalyn whimpered, her courage faltering._

_Her clone grabbed her shirt, yanking her forward until they were face to face._

"_Wake up. Go ahead. But soon this will stop being a dream."_


	19. Chapter Twelve: Stone Circles

Chapter Twelve: Stone Circles

Ari and the others stood outside the open gates of Triste, looking into the city. The strange vibes never left the place, even after Classification was destroyed.

"Well, what are we standing around for?" Big Bull asked.

They entered the city, and not even twenty steps in Linda tackled Ari, hugging him tightly.

"Ari! Big Bull, Marlene, Kisling, and Rosalyn!" She squealed. "You're here!"

"L-Linda?" stammered Ari, trying to pry her hands from his shoulders. Marlene walked over, narrowing her eyes.

"Did I give you permission to hug my servant?" She demanded.

Linda skipped back, tilting her head to the side. "What's the matter? I've done it before, you just said no kissing."

Marlene crossed her arms. "I've changed my mind."

"Oh shut up, she can hug him if she wants." A voice snapped from above their heads. Coracinus circled down in crow form, landing on Linda's shoulders.

"You can't speak to me like that!"

Coracinus snorted. "Sure I can, you're not a princess anymore."

Marlene scowled, looking at Ari. "You're going to let him talk to me like that?"

"Marlene, wait a moment." He said, earning an angry gasp from the former princess. "Linda, did Epros break you out?"

"What am I, smoke? Yes he did, and I helped." Coracinus grumbled.

The others quickly thanked the Shapeshifter.

Linda smiled, skipping in place. "That's right; Eppy and Cory both broke me out. Cory is hurt pretty bad though, speaking of which, why are you flying?"

"I'm bored." The Shapeshifter replied. "If you're looking for Epros, he's at the Inn."

Ari and the others split up like they usually did in towns, but Rosalyn followed him to the Inn.

Epros was in there all right, surrounded by books. He raised an eyebrow as they entered.

"I've been long expecting thou appearance; I really do admire your perseverance."

"Hey, Epros." Rosalyn greeted him. "Have you looked for K.T.?"

"Yes I have, to be perfectly clear. Unfortunately I can't find the dear." He gestured to his books.

"So what are you searching for?" She asked.

Epros sighed. "It appears the Circles are inactive due to a missing source, if we can find this they will be active, of course."

"Wait…" Ari reached into his pocket, removing the gold disc left over from the griffin Shapeshifter. "Does this work?" He tossed it to the magician, and Epros stared at it, fingers stroking the surface.

"I possess some knowledge on the Stones, and this disc will activate a single Circle, alone."

"Which circle?" Ari asked.

Epros stood up, tapping the gold disc. "The Addashi Circle, or so I believe, will take us to Wap Wap where we can take our leave."

"Didn't you make a metal 'Stone' Circle?" Rosalyn said thoughtfully. Ari looked at her, concerned, because she looked tired and her eyes were strangely hooded, her voice even lacked its usual luster.

The Phantom nodded. "Unfortunately, the Gear Tower no longer stands; the clouds have removed it, along with the land. It was hard to craft, no easy task, I was hoping that question thou wouldn't ask." He smiled slightly.

"Rosalyn, you look tired." Ari told her gently. "Try getting some rest."

"Huh? Oh. Okay. Don't forget…to buy supplies and stuff." She turned and walked off, yawning in a way that revealed her fangs, (and was that a forked tongue?) and that left Ari alone with Epros.

Ari turned to face the Phantom, scratching his head. "Since the Infectus bit everyone, they're all acting really weird."

Epros clicked his tongue in an annoyed way. "This I can see, be careful I plea."

"Careful of what? My friends would never hurt me."

"So you say, may it that way stay?" Epros almost smirked, and then it turned into a sad smile before he looked down again. "I am certain this disc activates the teleporter, go get what we need. Oh and Marlene, what about her?"

Ari looked at him strangely, the question obvious.

"If she was bitten, of this I have no doubt, the kind girl you knew you might have to do without."

Ari walked outside, only to see Marlene arguing furiously with Linda over something. Deciding to skip _that_ minefield for now, he walked around, buying the equipment he thought they would need. He found Coracinus outside the Inn when he returned, once again wearing his form.

"Why do you keep acting like me? He asked when he approached the clone.

"I heard Marlene shouting for you, and I thought I'd fill in. Besides, human forms are hard for me to do, and I need practice." He transformed into a crow again.

"What did she want?"

"Tea, apparently. I really do dislike her." He said this in a mildly distasteful way.

"She didn't used to be that way." Ari sighed, leaning back.

"Oh."

Once the equipment had been put away, Ari sat down and closed his eyes, thinking hard over everything Epros had said.

The Magician seemed certain that his friends were becoming more corrupted; the question though, was _he_? Were the clouds naturally spreading some kind of darkness? And were the people, the unfortunate Light filled souls now wandering in the Shadow Realm, okay?

Where was Stan? And could they defeat Addonexus?

"A penny for your thoughts."

Ari looked up, startled, when he realized K.T. was looking directly at him. Her eyes were mostly hidden by the shadows and her hat, but the faint smile on her lips was noticeable.

It was hard to say how old she was; she looked young but had the air of someone very old. She usually spoke in a clipped voice, but her tone was actually pretty warm.

"K.T.? Where have you been?"

"Around." She replied, watching him get to his feet.

"Do you know about-"

"I do."

Ari followed her across town to the abandoned home of Hero Hopkins, watching her run her fingers across the ancient wood.

"You must go to the temple in Wap Wap, but you already knew this did you not? To activate the other Stone Circles, you must also find the guardians of them, just like how you defeated the griffin. My twin sister should be at the temple to inform you of a different way to reach the Highlands, and thus the World Library and Beiloune."

"Twin…sister?"

"That is correct."

Ari watched K.T. leave without another word, and he stared at the skies, deep in thought.

***

The next day, they headed out.

The desert was hot, somehow, even with all the sky covered in dark clouds.

"How is that possible?" Marlene asked after a while.

Kisling cleared his throat. "I believe it is achievable due to the fact that the sun's heat is being ensnared by the clouds, which are reflecting it back down on us. Incapable of escape, the air then becomes muggy and humid, and thus affects the environment so."

Big Bull, usually cheerful, grumbled, "You know what I heard, Doc? Blah, blah, something about clouds, blah, blah, something about heat."

The landscape was torn up worse here, with huge gaps that the friends had to walk around. The absence of ghosts puzzled Ari, but he didn't complain. As usual, he led the way, unable to figure out why ex-Evil Kings and a fully trained Hero would want him to lead an excursion into the unknown.

They came across what had once been a large set of stone ruins that acted as a maze, but now was nothing but a battered pile of rubble. They picked their way across, setting their feet down gently, working very carefully to avoid the stumbling across the mess.

They reached the Stone Circle, which was dark and inactive, no glorious yellow light emitting from its depths.

Ari handed the disc back to Epros, who knelt down and placed it somewhere the others could see, since his back was to them.

The Stone Circle exploded into life, yellow shooting skyward.

"Ah yes, the Stone Circles used to ensnare me, I always wondered how they worked, you see. I always saw the discs, but was unable to move them. If we meet this Emperor, I have some questions to ask him." Epros recited.

Linda nodded, knowing Epros had a love for all things unknown, he wanted to learn a lot, the magical things fascinated him.

"Maybe we can figure it out together?" She offered. Epros smiled at her, then stood up and nodded to Ari.

Ari stepped toward the Circle, and felt the familiar sensation of teleporting before slamming back down onto Earth.

"There's nothing here, it's just ocean." Marlene said, looking around at the island.

Rosalyn crossed her arms. "Stan said something to me once about the temple being hidden. It has to be here somewhere."

Kisling spread his arms wide, like he usually did, as if he was talking to a vast crowd. "I accept as true the fact that this is quite possible, all we have to do is find this hidden temple and meet up with K.T.'s doppelganger."

Ari had told them all about what K.T. had said to him yesterday, so they were all aware, as was Epros and Linda about what had happened, that included Coracinus too, who was traveling with them.

Speaking of which, Coracinus flapped over to stand between Epros and Linda, whose company he seemed to favor over the others.

"I'm going to take a look." He lifted into the air, scanning it, while the others investigated.

There was nothing there besides the inactive Stone Circles, with the exception of the Addashi Desert one, and the slopes around them.

They met again in the middle, puzzled.

"We missing something?" asked Big Bull.

Ari nodded. "Try underwater, Coracinus."

The Shapeshifter leaped and transformed into a large fish that landed in the water with a splash. He emerged not long after. "There's a cave under here."

"Wonderful." Rosalyn said with a sigh. She still didn't look so good. She jumped into the water, followed by the others and a rather reluctant Marlene. They followed the dark black fish into a cleverly hidden cave that came up _inside _Wap Wap, the only other thing in the dark room being a great stone door with strange symbols across it. Dancing water patterns reflected across the walls.

The dive was short and quick, but the water had been surprisingly frigid, and the others shivered while Big Bull lit a fire.

"No one said being a Hero was glamorous." Rosalyn said with a touch of her old humor, her eyes glowing in the dark, easily brighter than anyone else's.

The others laughed weakly, and then Ari stood up and investigated the door.

Coracinus stepped up with him. "I don't recognize the symbols much, but _that's _obvious."

The Shapeshifter, wearing Ari's form again, tapped the huge engraved skull on the door.

Epros and the others walked up behind them, and Rosalyn placed her hand on the strange door.

"How do we get in?" She asked.

"I let you in." A monotone voice spoke.

They all turned around to see K.T.'s twin, the woman from Wap Wap, walking calmly toward them. She tapped the door, and the skull _moved_, twisting in on itself before the door opened.

The smell was old, and the scent of dust was so heavy you could almost feel it, like a stiffening curtain across your face. There was nothing but darkness within, and even the meager light from Big Bull's fire didn't penetrate the dark depths.

"Be careful in there, young ones."

"What's in there?" Ari asked, a little scared.

"This is the entrance to the Watcher's lair. I do not know if he will be pleased to see you. Act polite, be calm, and most of all do not anger him. If anyone can get you to the World Library, it is him, and if anyone can answer your questions, it is also him. The Watcher looks after the devices in his chamber, you should not have to turn until you come to the only split in the path. From there, turn left to visit the Watcher directly. Going to the devices first will only anger him."

They all nodded.

"Oh, and Shapeshifter? Assume your true form when you enter those tunnels. The Watcher does not like deception."

Then the woman left, turning around and vanishing into thin air.

"Whoa." Big Bull said simply.

Ari turned to look back into the dark depths, then stepped back as Coracinus laughed.

"May want to back up, guys."

His form flattened completely into a wispy shadow, then widened and stretched. When the form emerged, he resembled Melas Kardia closely, but he didn't have a spiked mane. That and he also had wings that were pressed flat to his back, scaly and rustling. He had an all together kinder face, rounder and younger looking, but he still had the shadow aurora that looked pretty threatening.

"Shall we?" He said, twitching his spiked tail.

They all entered the dim pits.

***

_**My apologies for the slow chapters, they're necessary sometimes.**_


	20. Chapter Thirteen: Dark Depths

Chapter Thirteen: Dark Depths

Rosalyn followed Ari into the darkness, her hands instinctively moving upward to try and feel her way in.

"I'm kinda scared now." Linda's voice floated from somewhere near her left. Epros said in return,

"There is nothing down here for you to fear."

Rosalyn highly doubted that, but she didn't say anything. They walked for what seemed like forever, the cold darkness licking at their skin. Every once in a while something fluttered past them, and the Hero had to resist the urge to draw her sword.

A breeze ruffled Rosalyn's hair.

"Did you feel that?" Marlene asked.

Ari said, "I think we reached the fork. We go left, right?"

"No, we go left."

"That's what I said, Linda." He replied with a sigh.

"Oh."

They walked to the left, hands touching the cold, slimy cavern wall.

Ari told them to stop. "We're at some kind of door; I can feel a handle here. Should I just pull it?"

"Try knocking first." Big Bull advised.

"I agree it is highly feasible that the Watcher does not appreciate company barging into his abode." Kisling, of course.

Rosalyn walked forward until she felt the door, then she felt something brush her cheek. She whirled around, sounding panicked. The touch had been cold and rough.

"What just touched me?!"

"Sorry. My tail." Coracinus apologized.

Rosalyn relaxed, fighting back the snide remark she was going to make. She heard the loud "thump" of Ari banging his fist against the door.

Silence. Then:

A pair of yellow eyes, huge and tinged with black and green, appeared in the space the door had been a moment ago.

The voice was strange, sliding over the adventurers like oil; the words were strange to hear. Why? The language was obviously foreign, but their minds somehow registered it clearly, just a second behind the actual words themselves.

"_Hello. I've been expecting you."_ Every word was plainly understood, and with every syllable a loud click was also heard.

_That's a bad sign_, Rosalyn thought.

"Can we come in?" Ari asked, clearing his throat.

The eyes moved aside, and they stepped into a room that they had a feeling was very large, since their footsteps echoed.

"Can we have a light, Watcher sir?" Linda asked cheerfully.

Something like hissing, wheezing laughter was heard. _"Of course."_

_Flash!_

Several torches flared on at once, clearly illuminating the cavern for the first time.

The room was huge but empty, save for four doors situated in corners in the square cave. The cave was dark brown, but the walls were wet, if the shining patterns on the walls caused by the torches was anything to go by.

And the Watcher himself…

The Watcher was a nine feet tall praying mantis, the rounded head and huge eyes were turned their way. His entire body, or at least his head, was green and gold with silver stripes that traced his face. The rest of his body was covered in a dark brown cloak that matched the walls. Two humongous scythes, his arms, lifted up from within the sleeves of his cloak, gesturing grandly to the cave.

"_I apologize for the simple décor, but you have not yet been to my personal chambers. What brings you to see an old Ghost like myself?"_

Rosalyn decided to save Ari the trouble.

"We would like to go to the World Library, please."

The Watcher turned his head to look at her, bending down until he was directly on eye level.

"_What would adventurers like you want with a dusty old book collection?"_

"Not so much the Library as the person inside it." Rosalyn replied, trying not to flinch as its cold breath touched her face. It was as cold as the winter's wind.

The Watcher blinked once. _"I see. I know who is within the Library, Beiloune, former Master of this world, correct?"_

"Yes, that is true. We wish to see my Father." Marlene spoke up from beside Coracinus.

The Watcher blinked slowly again. _"I am well aware he is your father. Yes…I know of what has happened to the land you call home. Alas, I do not know if I can trust you. I watch, I learn, and I know a lot about the people here."_ His voice suddenly turned quiet.

"What's wrong with us? We're Heroes!" Linda said proudly.

"The Diva is right, we saved the world!" Big Bull grunted.

The Watcher laughed again, rotating his head to look at Linda. "_You _call_ yourself Heroes. Ex-Evil Kings, self proclaimed or not, a boy too weak to speak up for himself, a girl acting like her doll counterpart, and a corrupted Scholar and Hero. You overthrew the world order, _believing_ it was right. Why should I help you in your quest to destroy?"_

"But, we have to! If we don't kill Addonexus, the world is doomed!" Linda spoke up bravely.

The mantis lowered his head down to Linda's level, and Epros stepped protectively close to her.

"_Ex-Teen Idol Evil _Queen_ Linda, you kill because you _believe_ it is right. Using that excuse means_ nothing_. Killing is _always_ wrong, when another way can _always_ be found."_

Linda pulled back from the Watcher, looking a little freaked out, and Epros said instead,

"What can we do, to properly assure you?"

"_Ah, Ex-Phantom Evil King Epros, still under the curse, I see."_

"Curse?" Linda said in confusion. Epros ignored her.

"_What you can do, you ask."_ The Watcher continued. _"I want to issue a challenge to one of you here, a challenge that will force into your face the greatest doubt harbored in your heart. Who will step forward?"_

Rosalyn said almost instantly before Ari could volunteer, "I will."

The Watcher nodded. _"Excellent, Hero Rosalyn. I'm very satisfied. Please, this way."_ One long leg stretched out and opened the door to the left. Rosalyn smiled at her friends.

"I'll be okay, guys."

"We know." Ari said with a smile. "Thank you."

Rosalyn followed the Watcher into a smaller room, this one dark. The mantis began circling around her, cloak swishing loudly, and she stood in the only light in the whole room, coming from somewhere above her.

"_Are you ready, Hero?"_ He asked her. _"This test will not be easy."_

"Nothing ever is." She replied with a smile, and she had a feeling the Watcher smiled too.

"_Very well…"_

He continued circling her, and Rosalyn resisted the urge to draw her rapier. This must be a mental test, since the Watcher was against fighting, or at least so she reasoned.

"_I know a lot about you, Hero Rosalyn."_

"Really?" She said dryly.

"_Indeed. You are almost a hypocrite."_ He said this like it was the most amusing thing in the world.

"WHAT?!" She snapped, tightening her grip on her sword.

"_It is amusing to me,"_ he continued, like she hadn't just shouted out. "_That you were willing to kill yourself to stop King Stan from coming into the world, but when he does come, you actually get into a _relationship_ with him. True, you have only kissed so far, but it is interesting to me that a Hero would love a Villain."_

"Who-what-how did you know we kissed?" She yelped.

"_I am the Watcher."_ He said simply. _"Now, Hero Rosalyn, you are in love with an Evil King. It goes against everything that should be, a Hero in love with the bad 'gentleman'. Why do you continue to humor him?"_

"I-I don't know." She admitted. Everything he was saying was the questions she wanted to ask herself…

"_Exactly. You know he is Evil, and thus as a Hero you must kill him at some point."_

"You're against killing, wouldn't you rather I am with him to keep an eye on him?"

"_That would be good, in some cases."_ He shook his head, still circling. "_But King Stan may soon revert back to his ways, before the bottle, three hundred years ago. Would you have the heart to strike him down, the person you love?"_

Rosalyn hesitated, clutching her sword. "I would," she admitted. "If I had no choice."

The Watcher paused, kneeling down until one huge eye stared into her own.

"_You have hope."_ He whispered into her mind. _"That you can change him. I can see it in your eyes."_

He lifted one leg, lightly touching Rosalyn's ears. She shivered. _"But _he_ has changed _you_. You struggle, having an inner monologue within yourself, unsure what to do. Dark thoughts taint your pure mind. What do you want to do now, Hero?"_

"I want to get to the World Library. I have a responsibility to everyone to save them." Rosalyn tightened her grip on her sword until her knuckles turned white.

"_Noble of you, Hero Rosalyn. Very noble indeed. Beiloune made you the Great Hero, and you still are, despite all the obstacles in your path. Your heart and mind only grow stronger."_ The mantis pulled back, nodding in a contented way._ "One last statement, and perhaps…I will let you and your friends go."_

"Statement on what?" She asked warily.

"_What do you think of your relationship with Evil King Stanley? Is it wrong?"_

Rosalyn looked down, thinking hard. _That_ was the one question she constantly asked herself. "Love is never wrong." She said at last.

She was sure of it, this time. The Watcher was smiling.

"_You pass, Hero Rosalyn."_

***

Rosalyn emerged from within the depths of the cave, the door closing behind her. The Watcher stepped forward, walking delicately.

"_Hero Rosalyn has changed my opinion on humans completely. Not only that, but she has changed my mind. I _will_ take you to the World Library."_

The Watcher motioned for them to follow him back outside to the fork in the path, but this time they took the other way.

The door opened, and Kisling exclaimed,

"Magnificent!"

The room was filled with gleaming, brand new gears. All performing different tasks, not only that, but other machines the others had never seen before whirred and worked. Silver steam was blasted out from a machine, lightly touching their faces. It smelled like rain.

The Watcher quickly typed in some commands, and a machine on the ceiling that worked its way down to the ground began to hum.

While it did so, the Watcher leaned back on his legs.

"_I am going to give you a disc, similar to the one from the griffin. Simply connect it to the Stone Circle for Addashi, and it will change its course and teleport you instead to the Highlands. I have to warn you, though…"_

He lowered his head to Ari's eye level.

"_I do not see the Highlands well. My sight only stretches so far. My assistant went there earlier, and the rumbling clouds have yet to reach the landscape nearby. The Spiritus should protect the Library, however. Listen carefully. The disc that I am making will stop working after one use, then it will self destruct, and the Stone Circle will change back to the Addashi Desert. Once you gain the Spiritus, you should be able to come back without the help of the disc."_

Kisling asked, "What if the Stone Circle for the Highlands has already been stolen by one of the Devil King's minions?"

"_Do not worry. This disc will have enough power for both ends, if that is the case."_

The mantis turned around and handed Ari a disc that flashed rainbow colors. It scorched Ari's fingers, and he quickly placed it on his palm so his glove could take the blunt of the heat.

Epros's eyes were alight with interest, running over every piece of equipment in the room. True, he had made a metal one, but the machines were interesting nonetheless.

"Permit my question, if you please. Were the Stone Circles made by these?" He gestured to the equipment.

The Watcher nodded. _"Indeed, Epros. They were."_

Linda jumped up and down. "Eppy-I mean Epros, loves to study the Stone Circles!"

The Watcher nodded. _"I know. These machines are not for you, but it would be my pleasure to show you how it works. Once I judge your character. I do _not_ want villains learning how to create Stone Circles! That is why a part of me is glad your 'Metal' Circle was destroyed."_

Kisling and Epros were studying the machines, Ari was chatting to Marlene, Big Bull and Linda were talking to the mantis, and Rosalyn just leaned against the wall.

Then, she realized Coracinus hadn't said anything.

"What's wrong, Coracinus?"

The Shapeshifter looked up, lifting his wings slightly in a shrug.

"I don't like my normal form." He smiled sadly.

"Why?"

"Don't I look scary?" He halfheartedly waved his claws.

Rosalyn laughed. "No, I don't think so. You look nicer than what they say Melas looked like."

That seemed to cheer him up; his ears went up a little.

The Watcher turned around, finally done with his discussion. _"Shapeshifter Coracinus, I need your help with something."_

He frowned. "Okay."

"_Find my assistant, the woman who let you in, if you please."_

Coracinus left, walking off, looking like a stalking predator who was heading for his prey.

_If that's a _young_ Shapeshifter, I'm a little scared on what an old one can do. _Rosalyn mused.

***

When they emerged from down within the depths of Wap Wap, it was sunset. The ocean was red with the dying rays.

"This is it, place it there." The woman said in her monotone voice. Epros followed her lead, and the Stone Circle changed from yellow to purple.

"Oh, Rosalyn." She added, turning to face the Hero. "Take this." She handed her a pink parasol.

Confused, Rosalyn stared at it.

"Keep it. Trust me." The woman intoned.

Thanking the woman, who said nothing, the friends stepped onto the portal.

The weightless feeling, and then they landed on the Stone Circle of the Highlands. Crisp, cold wind blew around them, carrying the scent of mountain air and just the faintest tinge of snow, along with the scent of smoke. The rocky grey hills, dotted with green foliage, surrounded them on all sides.

_Smoke?_

Rosalyn looked around, gaping at the burning buildings of the village. Smoke poured into the sky.

"How did that happen?" She demanded more than asked.

"Look!" Ari pointed, and Rosalyn lifted her head.

There, standing on a ridge looking down on them, was King Stanley HiHat Trinidad the Fourteenth.

He smiled, and then he shot something at them. It was large and dark, and blackish red energy whirled around them, briefly blotting out the environment.

The ridge crumbled, sending the allies into the misty depths below them. Rosalyn stumbled for a moment, trying to gain her balance, but to no avail.

CRACK!

The ridge snapped, and Rosalyn flailed her arms, falling backwards.

She saw his smirking face, and for some reason she shouted his name.

In anger? In horror?

In disbelief?

"Stan!"

She saw, out of the corner of her eyes, Coracinus about to transform, but Stan hit him with something blue that stopped him mid-transformation, resulting in him becoming a loose smoky cluster. Epros grabbed Linda, but Stan shot something at him too. Linda screamed as Epros fell backwards, unconscious.

She caught his eye, and shouted his name again.

"Stan!"

He saw her, he smiled wider. And then…

He turned his back on her.

***

_**Ohh cliff hanger. Be sure to review! Sorry, School's starting very soon, so I'll update whenver I can.**_


	21. Secret Journal 6

_**Secret Journal:**_

_I did it because I had to._

_I'm not sorry. My kind isn't supposed to be._

_However, I've protected her. She'll be okay…_

_Can you forgive me...Do I want you too? Doesn't matter. It's almost time for our final duel. I protected you from the fall because _I _have to take you down…_


	22. Chapter Fourteen: Betrayal

Chapter Fourteen: Betrayal

Rosalyn hurt. Everywhere. And she meant _everywhere._ It was like someone had grabbed a jackhammer and gone at it across her entire body. A voice spoke up brokenly, barely pushing through her thoughts.

"-aslyn…wake…."

She groaned, not wanting to open her eyes.

"Rosalyn!" A distant voice called.

She cracked open her eyes, seeing Ari's concerned face. Her eyes burned, and it hurt just to blink.

"Are you okay? I didn't have enough energy to cast revive…"He passed his hands in front of her, and she felt his healing magic kick in.

Some of her wounds were quickly patched, but she felt exhausted nonetheless. She sat up, supporting herself on her elbows.

"Where's…Did you see…what about everyone else?" Wow, she hurt a lot…Rosalyn found it hard to think straight, let alone get a coherent sentence out.

"They're on the other side of the rockslide, but everyone's answered back, except Linda." His green eyes were worried.

Rosalyn straightened up, leaning against the wall. "Where's Linda?"

"No one has seen her. Epros is distraught." Ari continued. "Coracinus can't shapeshift to look for her, he's too tired. Whatever Stan did to him-"his voice cracked. "Really hurt him."

Rosalyn nodded, staring at the sky. It looked…distant. Like how the stars look at night. Black clouds drifted across, but she couldn't tell if it was the Rising Rain clouds or just smoke.

"We're on some kind of ledge, not all the way down like we could have been." The boy looked at the pile of rocks on the surface. "Turns out, it's just you, me, and Epros on this side of the rockslide."

Epros was leaning against the rocks, eyes closed, arms crossed, and a card twirling lazily like a leaf falling from a tree beside him.

"Is he-"Rosalyn asked, concerned.

"Yeah. He's okay. Just tired."

"…What about you?"

Ari shrugged, smiling bravely. "What _about_ me?"

"Are you okay?"

He was about to answer when he almost blacked out, eye lids lowering. She caught him before he fell, but then he tried to stand up again.

"Get some rest. I'm going to look for a way out." Rosalyn gently pushed him down, trying to get the poor boy to sleep. He sighed, scratching his hair.

"I don't know why Stan-"

"I don't either. When I saw him…" Rosalyn's throat clenched.

_The Watcher was right. He really was. Why did I let that dirty, no good, lying Evil King steal my heart!?_

Rosalyn felt like someone had stabbed her. Then burned her heart for good measure. Anger flared up faster than it ever had, like only he could make it, inside her.

"He has _no reason_ good enough for this, Ari! None!" She glared, clenching her fist.

Ari shook his head slowly. "He _might _have a reason-"

"No. He doesn't. I'm going to do my job for now on." Darkness clouded Rosalyn's heart. No, she absolutely would _not_ forgive the Evil King.

_Let…him…die!_ The words roared in her mind.

She would do it herself! That…that….that _dog _would regret ever breaking her heart!

"Rosalyn, before you go anywhere…" Ari pointed to her parasol, completely unharmed on the ground. It was a cheery blotch of pink against the grey. "Take that with you."

"Why?" She snarled, glaring at him. The dark fire was burning her up, so very different from the warm glow she usually felt…

"Your shadow." His tired voice was tinged with humor, his green eyes as calm as ever.

She looked down, stunned, to see her shadow was bright pink. She snatched her parasol off the ground, hand fitting around the familiar handle. Somehow, that woman from the Island had got her old parasol back. That special parasol that hid her shadow…

She got to her feet, ignoring the pain scorching her entire body that Ari's quick refreshing spell couldn't fix.

"I'm going to find Stan." She informed him, who just shook his head.

"You can't, absolutely can't. You're too weak."

Rosalyn's yellow eyes flashed. "I don't take orders from you!"

These words, these thoughts, they weren't her own…But she didn't stop them.

"Rosalyn, be careful! The Infectus-"Ari warned.

"I don't care! Maybe with the help of the Infectus I can have the heart to kill him!" She turned around, ignoring the tears streaking down her face, and set off down the rocky valley…

***

All she could think of was Stan…

_He appeared around the corner, grinning hugely._

"_What do you want?" She snapped, walking right past him down the streets of Madril._

"_Happy Valentine's Day." He smirked, handing her a bouquet of red roses._

_She took them, smiling. "Wow, Stanley! They're beautiful!"_

"_The best for you." He had laughed, but his eyes had shone with honesty, for once._

She blinked away the tears, rubbing at her eyes. He could be so sweet sometimes, but then…Even their arguments were fun.

_Stan snarled, grabbing her hand._

"_Am I not allowed to have any fun?" He demanded._

"_Of course not! Especially since your 'fun' means burning people!"_

"_At least I know how to _have _fun, you washbowl Hero!"_

"_Of course I know how to have fun! We're having it right now." She smirked, turning around and leaving a confused Stan behind._

These memories and more chased their tails around in her mind, then left. Once they departed, her thoughts were set on two things.

One, to find Stan.

Two, she had to…

She paused, clutching her parasol, staring at the far away sky.

"Stanley, why did you…" She wiped away the tears again. She hated crying, she hadn't cried since her childhood. The sensation left her empty inside, but strangely refreshed. She could do this.

She actually closed her parasol, tying it to her back. She started climbing the side of the ridges, ignoring any birds or insects that fluttered away. Far in the distance a rumbling could be heard, the faint rumbling of the Rising Rain clouds.

Nothing to do, nothing but climb…and climb….and know _he _will be up there when she meets the top.

Finally, exhausted, Rosalyn pulled herself onto another ridge. She stared up at the now much closer cliff top, only another ten minutes of climbing…

She looked at her hands, grateful for the fingerless gloves, or else she would have blood all over them by now. Ari was right; she was rushing into this…Oh well. She was grateful for the calluses that formed on her fingers due to years of holding a sword, or it'd be even more painful.

Rosalyn cocked her head to the side, thinking. She seemed to get a mysterious, Light based power when fighting Stan. It was liked her Hero power just activated whenever she fought him, like that time with Beiloune. It was a special power that she couldn't just call up anytime, just when she needed it…

She cracked her knuckles, climbing the wall again…

***

Rosalyn had rested for a while after climbing the cliff face. Ari and the others hadn't fallen that far down, thank God for that cliff ledge that had stopped them from falling into the even deeper nadir. It wasn't called the Highlands for nothing!

The smoke had long since stopped, the village nothing but charred rubble now. Rosalyn hoped the villagers had escaped, but with Stan after them…

What had _caused _this? Did Stan get brainwashed by Addonexus or something?

Possible, actually.

Rosalyn kept walking, parasol out, and boots clicking across the stones. No sign of anyone, except for a lone circling bird too high up for her to see the species.

The sun had risen, bathing the mountainous territory in golden light. Everything it touched glowed, and Rosalyn sighed, fingering her pointed ears.

The dark fire had vanished now, nothing but the icy orb deep inside her that held her Ice powers was active. She kept walking until she reached Utopia Corridor, the pathway between the World Library and the Highland Village.

And there, standing on the stones, back to her, was Stan.

She walked forward, pulling her rapier out.

"Stanley."

He had his hands in his pockets, humming to himself. "Yes, Rosy?"

"Don't call me that! What were you thinking?!"

Stan turned to face her, yellow eyes gleaming. "I was thinking quite clearly, woman. The question is, are you?"

"What are you talking about, you fake Evil being?"

"We can't win. We have absolutely no chance. I just got a nice little show of what the Necomortis can do, and even if we _could _get the Spiritus, what makes you think Beiloune would let us…?"

"We have to try. Besides, he wouldn't let anything happen to his _precious _Marlene."

Stan sighed. "You know what we have to do, right?"

"I know."

"It's our final battle, Rosalyn. But I'm going to win this time. No voice recorder to save you!"

Stan jumped forward, a bolt of dark energy crackling in his hands, and Rosalyn pointed her rapier at the former Evil King she had once called her friend.

***

_**Updates will be slower due to High School.**_

_**Yeah. Um…Review?**_


	23. Chapter Fifteen: Death Wish

_**Thanks to Evil King Keo, his story made me get inspired to write this again.**_

_**We're back on the update a week schedule! Thanks so much for the reviews, the more reviewers, the more motivated I am.**_

_**Anonymous reviews are **_**on**_**, by the way. Here we go~**_

***

Chapter Fifteen: Death Wish

Rosalyn dodged just in time, feeling the familiar Light energy, pure and strong, pulse through her. She parried each and every one of Stan's attacks, (he was striking with a dark, lightning bolt shaped sword). She summoned power to herself, using it to shield when Stan unleashed fire down on her.

"Light doesn't hurt, does it? Just shields! It's a ninny!" Stan taunted, skipping closer and closer to her. He slashed out, but the Master of the Lightning Rapier parried him and cut a slash across his chest. Stan growled, dark blood spattering the rocks, and sent down more lightning and fire. The fire scorched at Rosalyn's feet, but a blast of Crystal magic turned it into steam. The Thunder, her weakness, rocked her a little more. She stumbled back, almost losing her balance, before feeling a surprisingly strong burst of power deep within her.

She blasted a Light shot, catching Stan in his chest. He fell backward, but leaped back up with a catlike swiftness.

"Going to play that way?" He growled, stretching his hands wide and clapping them together.

Darkness emanated around them, closing them in a net. The Light energy flared, cutting through the darkness, while Rosalyn searched for a pair of yellow eyes in the black gloom.

There!

She sliced out, hitting Stan's shoulder but getting hit in the leg herself. She went down on her knees briefly before throwing him off, kicking him for good measure. Fire erupted around her, but Rosalyn blasted Stan with some more Ice shots, quickly ceasing that attack.

Lightning crackled, but Rosalyn ignored it, fighting in the pitch blackness, desperate to hit her dodging foe. Tendrils of darkness grabbed her arms and legs, trying to leech the strength from her limbs. She shot more Light energy, decimating everything in its path, and luckily striking down Stan.

The darkness retreated, and Rosalyn wasted no time in sparring with Stan again. They placed their swords against each other, straining for the upper hand.

"You have no choice of winning, we're equally matched!" Rosalyn said. Stan smiled.

"We'll see."

They continued to duel, darkness and Light crackling everywhere. Ripples of energy disturbed the cliff face, causing pieces to shatter and collapse around them, plunging into the depths.

The circling bird Rosalyn had seen earlier was caught by a stray shot, and it plummeted downward briefly before rising back up.

_No bird could take that shot, unless that's Cora-_

Taking advantage of the distraction, Stan kicked Rosalyn over, preparing to strike her throat. She quickly brought her sword up, kicking out in turn, rolling over and leaping to her feet.

Dodge, kneel, and kick!

Caught by his feet, Stan fell on his back and got a nasty cut across his chest. Stan launched more Lightning from the sky, catching Rosalyn in the backside. She felt like someone had thrown an anvil on her…

She got down on her hands, breathing hard, and gasped when she felt the dark sword pierce her skin. She moved quickly, but the nasty wound was already inflicted. Dark red blood dripped down her clothes.

She twisted, using her parasol as a shield. The spell activated, increasing the amount of damage she could take. She began circling Stan warily, they were both injured.

"Rosalyn, why not just come with me?"

"Heroes don't…give up…"

Stan smirked. "You're not giving up, just switching sides."

Rosalyn lashed out, catching Stan's arm. The wound was deep and gruesome, almost cutting into his bone.

Stan snarled; eyes closed in pain, clutching his arm. He really did look demonic like that…

Once again she wondered what the _hell_ was wrong with her.

She lashed out again, but Stan skipped back. Fire and Lightning erupted around her in a maelstrom of dread; Ice even crept up from the side.

Rosalyn summoned Light energy to protect her, but even that didn't completely block the pain. She was knocked off her feet, rapier clattering close to her side.

Stan placed his foot on her arm, leaning close, sneering.

"Ready to give up?"

"Never." She hissed.

She gathered more Light energy, releasing it and knocking Stan off of her. She grabbed her rapier and tripped Stan expertly, leaning close and placing her sword tip on his throat.

"I win." She whispered, exhausted from the fight.

Stan smirked. "You can't kill me." His yellow eyes were filled with silent laughter.

She pressed the sword closer, cutting off his laughter, and she felt a thrill of sick pleasure when he gasped slightly, fear trickling across his eyes.

"You hurt _everyone_. Where is Linda?"

"Melas has her." He muttered.

"Why…Why did you betray us, Stan?" She whispered, tears flowing down her face, obscuring her vision.

"Rosalyn…" He croaked; eyes half closed. "I have a reason. I really do. In order to use the Spiritus, we have to have an ally on the other side…" He smirked, but his eyes didn't reflect the emotion. His eyes were filled with regret.

Suddenly, dark tendrils grabbed Rosalyn and pulled her over. Before she could summon the Light energy, Stan had his sword against her heart.

"You gave me your heart. Your biggest mistake. You would have won, Rosy, but you had _mercy_." Stan smirked wider, and then he drove the sword inside her heart.

Rosalyn felt it enter; it felt like fiery steel, decimating her skin and muscles in one long, easy motion.

Then, somethin worse happened.

Darkness covered her vision, her eyes completely closed. She saw Light at the end, somewhere far away…

Stan's voice. Faintly. She felt his hand on hers, so warm in comparison, when usually it was cold.

"I'm sorry, Rosalyn. I wish it could have been different."

***

_**Wait, before you flame me! This story **_**will**_** have a happy ending, which includes one for Rosalyn! This is only temporary! That being said, be sure to review! FOR REAL! TEMPORARY!**_


	24. Secret Journal 7

_**Secret Journal:**_

_I can't believe she's gone. I mean, Sister has always been there. She's like…the trees or something. They're just always there. I want to wring Brother's neck, but I guess he has a good reason. I guess. He better._


	25. Chapter Sixteen: Killer

Chapter Sixteen: Killer

_**I just realized how OOC this is. I understand if you want me to stop, just say so.**_

_*******_

Stan felt dirty. He gazed down at the prone form of Rosalyn, her yellow eyes closed and the gasp she had been holding in escaped. Then, she went limp.

He had killed her…

_Killer. Murderer. _

That wasn't new for the King, but killing Rosalyn…

He let the sword vanish, kneeling down beside her. He took her hand, so cold in his own grip.

"I'm sorry, Rosalyn. I wish it could have been different."

Behind him, footsteps.

Stan turned around, frozen in shock.

Ari and the rest were with him. Ari was staring at Stan, unable to understand what was happening.

"Stan…did you…"

"No!" squeaked Marlene.

"Sister!" Big Bull moaned.

"No, it cannot be…tell me this isn't what I see!" Epros said.

"This is impossible; there is no conceivable fact that you may possibly have brought Rosalyn down!" Kisling grabbed his head, eyes wide.

"Wait, Slave-"Stan began. Ari blinked back tears, and actually shouted,

"She trusted you! _We_ trusted you!"

"What were we thinking?" growled Big Bull.

Coracinus suddenly spiraled down in bird form, transforming into his true appearance. He looked menacing now, teeth bared, the dark wisps lifting up, reflecting his anger.

"You don't deserve to live!" The Shapeshifter growled; wings wide.

Stan stepped back. "Let me explain!"

Ari ran forward, sword outstretched, already in Overdrive mode. He attacked directly, and Stan, too tired to dodge, took the blow to his arm.

"Slave, Ari, wait!"

"We should hear him out." Marlene said suddenly.

"Why?" Ari said, reluctant to ignore Marlene.

"If he has a good reason, we might be able to…explanation…" She sounded unsure herself, her words trailing off.

"Never mind. Let's kill him!" Big Bull roared, charging toward Stan, who knelt down, feeling each and every wound Rosalyn had inflicted, and the one Ari had left.

Ari sighed, tripping Big Bull, who collapsed on the ground.

"Go ahead, Stan." His green eyes narrowed in some emotion Stan didn't recognize.

"We needed someone on the other side. We needed to be able to contact not a Ghost, but a Spirit, who can help us gain control of it. And they had to die in a special way." Stan hurriedly explained.

"We could have found another way! Why Rosalyn, anyway?" Ari snapped. Stan knew his slave rarely ever lost his temper.

"It had to be someone we were close to!" Stan growled in return. "So I played up to Addonexus, and he 'assigned' me to Melas. He's too sure of himself to think I would betray him. I learned from Melas about what the Spiritus can do, and how you need a Spirit to answer you. We have Rosalyn's parasol, and that will work to talk to her. I needed to learn some things, and I got what I needed."

"We could have-"

"No, we couldn't, Kisling. One of us would have died anyway, and I think the Hero woman would have volunteered…" Stan said, picking up the parasol like it was some kind of religious object.

"Prove it." Big Bull demanded.

"I will. Once we get to the World Library."

"Where's Linda?" Ari asked.

"Melas has her." Stan sighed. He never used to be this way before, he remembered. Before the bottle, he could kill off hundreds of people and not care. But this one, single, necessary murder was bothering him.

Suddenly, Epros's cards were in a whirlwind around him, and the magician's eyes narrowed.

"What?! Stanley, we just freed her, we cannot go the same way anymore…"

"The same way to free her, I bet it won't work. He'll be expecting us." Coracinus added, turning into a crow and perching on Ari's shoulders. His feathers were ruffled in annoyance.

"You risked everything, Linda and Rosalyn are now both gone!" Ari glared at Stan. The wind howled, bringing with it the distinct scent of smoke and the faint rumbling of the Rising Rain clouds.

"Sorry…it was the only way." Stan said, surprisingly meekly. He crossed his arms, refusing eye contact with anyone, staring at a rock on the ground.

Epros looked like he wanted to murder him, but the friends followed Ari as he began to head for the World Library.

Coracinus said bitterly, "I should have intervened."

"They would have killed you!" Ari replied. He was probably thinking he should have gone with Rosalyn when she left him at the cliff bottom.

"So, you _were _that bird that Rosalyn saw." Stan said.

"I was. I was showing the others where you were, but then I dropped down soon after getting accidentally shot, I had to haul Kisling back to his feet, he lost his grip."

"It's my fault." Kisling muttered.

"No, it's one hundred percent Stan's." Big Bull mumbled.

"Time to meet Father." Marlene said sarcastically, cutting across them. She was obviously trying to stop them from blaming themselves. Her red eyes were pointedly not looking at anyone in particular.

"Look!" Coracinus shouted, earning their attention. They all turned around to see gold sparkles envelope Rosalyn's body before vanishing into the sky.

"It worked. She should hear us now. See, she isn't dead." Stan said smugly, and then paled as everyone turned their glares at him.

Ari hadn't wanted to leave her there anyway, so maybe the sparkles were a good thing. The boy knew they wouldn't have the time to properly bury her anyway…He hesitated, every noticed, looking at where Rosalyn used to be. After a moment he waved his hand to gather their attention and set off once more.

***

The World Library was eerily quiet, the mist that floated everywhere obscuring a good view of their feet. The doors were open, some almost off their hinges, but no dust touched even one book.

A stony silence existed. Everyone was giving Stan killer looks, even Ari, who just seemed more hurt than angry at the Evil King.

The unspoken statement hung in the air.

"_How could you?"_

Ari was wondering the same thing. He thought the two had been doing well, ("well" for them anyway), and he thought their love-hate relationship was rather amusing.

But now…Backstab. That's what it felt like. It felt like someone had backstabbed him.

Rosalyn was gone? Impossible.

Couldn't be. The Hero always got back to her feet, rebounded like a ball, you couldn't stop her.

"What…happened?" Big Bull asked Stan as they wandered the maze of books, looking for the familiar door that Beiloune usually stayed behind.

"She would have won." He growled. "She got me good, actually. It was difficult just looking at her, the Light…" He paused, and then sighed. "She could have killed me, but she didn't. I saw the hesitation in her eyes, she was trying to, but her conscious wouldn't let her."

"The Infectus couldn't even taint her sufficiently to get her to kill you." Kisling said.

"Not even with the clouds." Stan pointed up. "Their mere influence, if you're bitten or not, can contaminate your thoughts…"

"I know." Kisling said. "I figured that out a while ago, but it lacked importance, I thought. There's hardly anything we can do the cease their function."

Ari sighed, nodding in agreement. That explained the weird thoughts he had occasionally. It appeared he wasn't immune to _that_ particular branch of magic.

Their footsteps echoed loudly, but it was missing two things.

It was missing Linda's lighter, quicker footsteps, and Rosalyn's faster paced, heavier steps…

"Where's James?" Ari asked, just to break the terrible, crackling silence that settled into everything.

"Here. There. Everywhere." The Evil King threw his hands in the air. "Beats me. I call for him and he doesn't come."

"Was he thrown into the negative state?" Inquired Kisling.

"Eh, I doubt it. Just ignoring me, like usual." Stan sighed again.

Ari was good at reading people. Very good, in fact. So he decided to survey his friends.

Stan was…fidgety. He kept clasping his hands and unclasping them, his eyes downcast, and his tone was devoid of his usual smugness. He was…guilty? Sad, even?

Disgusted with…himself?

Kisling kept purposely eyeing every single book, his face downcast, devoid of his usual eccentric smile, his eyes half closed. He was obviously miserable, but made an attempt at small talk.

Big Bull was barely lifting his feet, the grin gone from his face, making him look very odd, since the grin just seemed to be a part of him.

Marlene…

Ari took her hand, gently, not sure how she would react. She just simply smiled at him, but her red eyes strayed back to the floor, one of the rare instances where she didn't walk proudly. He had always admired how she could walk like that, like nothing bothered her, but it appeared something did.

Epros didn't walk, he floated, and the barely audible whish in the air was the only sound he made. His eyes kept moving to Stan, then to the ceiling, and every once in a while a card floated around him, as he toyed with it in an idle way.

Coracinus was just in crow form, perched on his shoulder, head tucked beneath a wing as if hiding from the world.

Upon reaching the grand door, still intact, Ari smiled weakly at the memory of James breaking the door down for them the first time. He cleared his throat. "Beiloune is in here still?"

"The Watcher said so, therefore, he must be." Kisling said, but his tone lacked enthusiasm.

The long, circular room was empty, not a single object moved in its depths. Ari hesitated, and then turned around, as the door closed behind them.

Ari sighed. _Oh no._

There was a flash of light, and then Beiloune appeared, smoothing down his grey hair. His eyes roved over the others, his expression sardonic, and then he simply said, "What brings you back to my domain?"

Marlene stepped out from behind Big Bull. "Father, I have to ask, do you know about something called the Spiritus?"

Beiloune took in a breath of air that escaped as a hiss. "What?"

"Do you, or do you not?" She asked persistently.

"Who put those ridiculous-"He cut himself off, and then continued in a calmer tone. "What makes you ask that?" He eyes stared at his daughter, not looking at anyone else.

"We have no time for this!" Stan growled. "Listen, old man, where's the Spiritus? We know you have it! If you don't help us out, the world is doomed! How am I supposed to conquer the world if someone blows up the dang thing?"

Beiloune laughed coldly. "By your own fault, Stanley. While I governed the world, we were safe. Now, why should I not let you reap what you sow?"

"Because, that would put your darling Marlene in danger," snapped Stan in return.

"Oh no, I have enough power to keep us both safe." He smirked.

"Father, I must insist you help us! There is no reason behind just letting the world…" She trailed off, her big red eyes shining with tears.

Beiloune grimaced, obviously not immune to his daughter's tricks. "Say I _would_ help you; do you know how to operate it?"

"All I know is that we need someone on the Otherside to help us contact the powerful Spirits that control the Spiritus, and then we should have enough energy to hopefully combat Addonexus." Stan growled. Beiloune laughed.

"Who will have this power? You?"

"Of course!" Stan said smugly. Everyone glared at him.

"No way!" Big Bull snorted. "You're not getting any power, Brother!"

"Who else can take that much demonic energy?" Stan countered.

"I can."

Everyone paused, looking at Ari, who was staring at the floor like it was the most interesting thing.

"What, Slave?" The Evil King looked at the usually timid boy.

"I said I can." Ari said in a louder voice. "If I can deal with an Evil King in my shadow, then I think I can deal with…" He trailed off, flinching under Stan's hard glare. However, Epros spoke up.

"This I actually believe, let's do something quick, so we can leave."

After some bickering and discussion, Ari was surprised when the others finally agreed to let him get the energy.

Beiloune had watched this with an amused look on his face, then said, "However, this can have some serious side effects…Especially since the deviant was never even in the Diablerie, and thus not even having been exposed to the effects of that environment, it could be even worse. There is another way…"

"What? Spit it out!" Stan raged.

"You can all split the power, equally gaining a piece, and thus reducing the side effects to minimum. However, if one of you should fall, the chances of you actually beating Addonexus only slim down…"

"Will you help us?" Marlene asked.

"I'm afraid I cannot. I have absorbed many of the energies in the Spiritus, and taking in anymore could…have disastrous effects. However…there is a catch to this."

"Oh really? What?" Kisling said thoughtfully.

"To activate the Spiritus to serve a new user, one must have someone close to contact on the Otherside, and…you need to use the relic on Wap Wap, where it can absorb the energies from the Stone Circles."

"Not all of them are active." Said Ari.

Beiloune's face twisted into a smirk. "Then you may need to find whatever activates them."

"Can another source be used? Time runs out, like fire burning a fuse." Epros murmured uneasily.

"I do not know." Beiloune paused, thinking clearly, then shook his head. "I can give you an item that will warp you back to the World Library here; it's an edited Guidance Stone." He gave Ari a strange, flat green rock. It shone dully. "I can open a portal for you to Wap Wap directly, once you activate all the Circles, come back."

Marlene thanked her father, and then turned to face everyone. "We do this for Rosalyn." She said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Now…what if one Stone Circle is broken?" Stan asked.

"Does not matter, as long as its Wap Wap counterpart is active."

"Let's do this, then." Ari said, clenching his fist.


	26. Chapter Seventeen: Seven Shapeshifters

Chapter Seventeen: Seven Shapeshifters

_**See? Ha-ha. Seventeen? Seven Shapeshifters?**_

_**Sorry. Here we go. Congratulations on reading 83 pages of Okage fan fiction so far.**_

_*******_

Beiloune had transported them back to Wap Wap, and now they stood there, looking at the six Stone Circles, only one glowing active.

"Since that yellow Shapeshifter had a disc, do you think more of them do?" Big Bull asked after a moment of silence.

Coracinus shrugged, ruffling his feathers. "Quite possible, but we could spend forever tracking them down."

"I bet Melas knows where they are. Do you think they write stuff like that down?" Ari said, thinking hard.

Kisling spread his arms wide. "I believe that one such as Melas most likely does not inscribe down such things, the information is probably stored in his cranium, whereas we might have to exchange blows with him straightforwardly to get the information out of him, and even then he possibly will not speak up."

"Translation?" Big Bull asked tiredly.

"Melas probably has the info in his head, not written down somewhere. We'd have to fight him directly, and even then we'd probably lose." Kisling replied, making a face as if using simpler words disgusted him.

Big Bull muttered "Why didn't ya say so", while Stan spoke up.

"Why don't we proceed to the Watcher? If anyone knows where those changing freaks are, he does."

"Why not use the discs he creates?" Marlene asked, chin on hand.

"We'll have to ask the guy. Great. It means you have to swim again." Stan mumbled. He smirked, vanishing into Ari's shadow, and the boy just sighed.

One very cold and long swim later, the friends were shivering outside the entrance to the Watcher's lair.

To their surprise, they didn't have to enter the dark tunnel. The head of the mantis emerged from its depths, eyes blinking slowly as it processed those in front of him.

"_I suspected you'd return."_ He said at last. His eyes moved over to Stan. _"My opinion of humans has only risen since I saw Rosalyn fall before you. My opinions of demons have only sunk, Evil King Stan."_

Stan grimaced then shook his head. "Whatever. We need to know where the other discs are to activate the Stone Circles."

"_You've found the Spiritus?"_ The mantis hummed.

"We have." Ari said. "We need the other five discs so we can use it."

His whole body emerged from the darkness of his tunnel, thin feet barely brushing the floor as he settled himself in a corner. The Watcher nodded thoughtfully.

"_Yes, I know where the discs are."_ The Watcher raised one scythe-like arm. _"However, would you kindly explain why I should help you, when one disc is being held by a being you cannot defeat?"_

"Melas does have one, like we feared. He's probably in possession of Linda, courtesy of Stan here." Epros muttered, twirling a card between his fingers.

"_Linda is not with him_." The mantis corrected. _"She is with Addonexus, or so I guess, because I cannot see his domain. My consciousness cannot penetrate his magic for long."_

"What?" Big Bull grumbled.

Ari was puzzled by all of this. The discs were in possession of the Shapeshifters all right, and one was with Melas Kardia. They could barely hurt him the last time, they'd need some kind of…edge of something. Either that or they just had to snatch the disc from him before running.

"_I can extend my consciousness far away from me. I can be sitting here, seemingly asleep, while my mind sees and hears things happening in Tenel or Madril, as far as Capital City, where Melas's floating castle now hovers."_

"Capital City…" Marlene said thoughtfully. "My father and I used to stay there, a long time ago, before I got lost." She bit her lip at the memory, and Ari shot her a pleasant smile before turning back to the mantis.

"Where is the city?" inquired Kisling.

"_Far away and Stone Circles do not extend there. Luckily Melas himself is not in his castle, nor any other Shapeshifters."_

"Why is his castle over there, then?" Stan demanded.

The Watcher shrugged his thin shoulders. _"I do not know, but I believe Melas sent his minions over to search for something, a tome they will need that is most likely hidden among the now ruined city. It was destroyed by the strange clouds. A gateway to the Diablerie is needed for Addonexus to fully complete his spell; he must stand halfway in the worlds, with the Spiritus and Necomortis, and recite the words in that one, specific spot. It will not work anywhere else."_

"Why would Melas stay behind?" Ari asked.

"_To hinder you, most likely. If you are interested in engaging the other Shapeshifters in battle, know this: For every Shapeshifter you destroy, the others gain power."_

"_What?_" Several voices exclaimed.

The Watcher seemed to smirk; his eyes narrowed faintly, the lids obscuring the strange orbs.

"_Yes, they share a seven way energy source. For every Shapeshifter you destroy, the piece of energy that the other had is split with the survivors. When there is only one Shapeshifter left, you will fight a being with the power of the other six."_

Stan swore violently, and Ari said calmly, "I see. There are seven Shapeshifters, and they share energy. So, if there was only two left, Coracinus would get the power too?"

"_That is correct."_ The mantis intoned.

Coracinus shook his head. "I don't have the experience to fight Melas. Even if we had the same power, I can't turn into what he can. He'd squash me."

"What unerringly is this power you have, if it doesn't make itself present by your forms?" Kisling asked.

"I…don't know. I can take more damage I think, not to mention I'm stronger physically. Melas is a very old Shapeshifter, though, and his fighting skills-"

"Not important." Stan said brusquely. "We'll get the other Shapeshifters first, and then we'll focus on Melas. We'll help you, Coracinus, but if there is some kind of flaw to that dark aura that surrounds Melas then you need to tell us, or face the wrath of-"

"There is a flaw. Melas is out of the elemental cycle, like Ari, and is therefore neutral." A brief pause, then Coracinus sighed. "However, he's using a type of malicious spell that draws strength from things around him, sucking our own energy to fuel his shield. I can put a spell on us to prevent this, but then he'll just siphon the environment's energy."

Kisling nodded. "So, if we fight him somewhere where plants do not grow, or anywhere else that produces energy, along with your spell, we should see that his shield is now inactive."

"That is correct. It's a natural thing, we really can't help ourselves. Especially since we're both…Shadow Shapeshifters." He said bitterly.

"Are you…related to him?" Ari asked.

"He's my dear, dear uncle," sneered the Shapeshifter, turning his head to the side.

"Whatever, enough drama!" Stan interrupted. "We'll engage the other Shapeshifters, and then we'll confront Melas."

"_Not all of the Shapeshifters are under Addonexus's control. Sargarious, Leontore, and Abterqen are free of the Devil King's influence." _The Watcher said._ "Head to their three shrines, and if you convince them your plight is worthy, they will reward you with the discs. They had removed them from the Stone Circles after signs of Addonexus's return began to appear, in an effort to stop him from gaining power. They are probably who Melas is looking for. I cannot create fake ones to replace the real thing, but I can give you discs to temporary activate them to get to the locations you seek."_

"Thank you." Epros bowed, and everyone else did also.

"Thank you, very much." Marlene crossed her arms, looking thoughtful. "At least _some_ of them are friendly."

"_They are also pacifists, unless push comes to shove. Do not ask them to fight, they are old spirits and simply want peace. Well, most of them."_ The Watcher dropped several fake discs on the ground.

"_Now, you may go."_

***

_**Sorry for the slow chapter, this was an explaining one. One chapter for the friendly shifters, one for the unfriendly, then they fight Melas.**_


	27. Chapter Eighteen: Trials of Virtue

Chapter Eighteen: Trials of Virtue

Stan was sleeping. He only slept if he actually needed the energy, and this time he did.

To his surprise, it appeared he was dreaming. Stan didn't dream often, not counting the dreams that came from the Necomortis. Dreaming, true dreams were rare for the Shadow King.

He was aware of a sort of whitish mist; it swirled at about chest level, obscuring everything below him. He thought he saw something pink, but then it was gone. Before he could speak, someone else did.

"_You intend on waking up anytime soon? You have things to do! My death better have been worth it, you stupid Evil being."_

"Rosalyn?" He asked in disbelief.

"Stan!"

Stan sat up, opening his eyes, staring at Ari who had just shouted his name.

"Gotta get up." Ari muttered, turning around and shaking Big Bull. They had a brief breakfast before Ari removed the map of the "friendly" Shapeshifters Beiloune had magically drawn up for them.

"Here it is. Let's try Tenel first, near the Big Tree Hole."

"We sure he ain't tricking us?" Big Bull asked.

"He wouldn't put Marlene in danger," Kisling explained.

The friends set off in silence, plugging in the fake disc to activate the Stone Circle. They warped quickly, and then before everyone was even fully there Ari was already walking off.

"Wait up!" Marlene complained, rushing after him. The others quickly followed, and it wasn't long until they all had to jog in order to keep up with the sprinting boy.

"Why's he running so fast?" Stan grumbled, sprinting after his slave.

"That's not fast." Big Bull scoffed, running backwards and keeping pace with Ari.

"Slave! Slow down! Tiring ourselves out isn't going to-"

"_Oh shut up and run."_A voice snapped close to his ear.

Stan almost tripped over his own feet, and was secretly grateful when Ari finally slowed down since he was probably making Marlene tired, not that Stan cared.

"Did you hear that, Slave?"

"What?" Ari replied.

"That voice." He stared around and saw everyone else was looking at him like he was crazy. He crossed his arms, vanishing into Ari's shadow, just so he could avoid their stares.

_This is impossible, that couldn't have been…_

"_And why not? Now you're _hiding?_ Get up; you guys have some Shapeshifters to get!"_

_Rosalyn? _Stan thought.

"_No, it's your dear departed mother. Yes, it's me!"_

Stan popped up out of Ari's shadow as they raced along, searching left and right. He thought he caught a glimpse of someone running next to Epros, but when he looked harder nothing was there.

_Rosalyn, what are you doing here?!_

"_Running," _came the sarcastic reply.

_Are you in my mind or something?_

"_Of course not, you're still as brain dead as ever, but if I was in there, I'd have a lot of leg room."_

Aggravated, Stan fell into a moody silence as Ari and the others came to a halt near the Big Tree Hole.

"Hey, I was here, I don't see nothin'." Big Bull said simply.

"That's because we necessitate Coracinus to do a spell?" Kisling hazarded a guess.

The Shapeshifter blinked his great green eyes, and then he walked forward, still in his preferred crow guise, and spread his wings. Jade runes appeared across his body, glowing brightly before removing themselves from his feathers and plastering themselves to the humongous tree stump in front of them.

It hissed like fire, then, the hole in the side of the stump glowed a bright, blinding blue. Raging like a storm, the blue swirled angrily before calming down.

The crow hopped back onto Epros's shoulder, and they looked at the nexus entryway. Stan stepped out of Ari's shadow, looking at the gate.

_Ladies first,_ Stan thought, wondering if Rosalyn was still around. He was rewarded with a shove from behind, the hands he had felt on his back were warm, unusually so, like embers almost. He thought he heard her laugh.

Deciding to not look foolish, the Evil King strode toward the portal and turned impatiently around. "Are you fools coming?"

A brief pause, then Ari stepped past him and into the maelstrom. The others did the same, and Stan followed last.

There was an uncomfortable period of coldness. It leeched away all the warmth from Stan's skin, and he involuntarily shivered, closing his eyes against the blinding, cold blue. Finally, it peeled away, reluctantly snaking back from his clothes and body to reveal a simple, circular room with grey stones and a single burning torch.

In the depths of the torch a pair of eyes blinked back at the friends before closing and vanishing from sight.

"Where are we?"

Coracinus answered Ari's question. "This is a chamber; the Shapeshifter is hiding here somewhere."

"We mean no harm," Ari raised his voice. "Please, come out."

"I agree we come in peace." Marlene sounded a little sarcastic.

The wind swished past them, then the fire flashed and met the wind near the middle of the room, transforming into an imitation of a cat like creature. It had a long, lean body with a golden pelt, white paws, and chest. The golden fur was dappled with strange swirls of glowing amber, and the creature's eyes were a fiery orange that trailed smoke from its mouth and eyes constantly. It flashed its head around to stare at Ari, standing at the same height as the boy, taking a menacing step forward.

"I am Leontore," the cat meowed in a voice like crackling flames. "What brings you to my lair?"

Stan spotted the disc then, he saw it on a glowing band of lava, hanging like a collar piece.

"We need the disc," Ari began. "Because one of our friends is captured, and we want to save her."

"Impeccable timing. She happens to be captured, at the same time Melas was here not too long ago, looking for me, and the disc?" He sneered.

"Of course," Stan snapped. "He's the one that has her."

"Because of you!" Big Bull growled, glaring at Stan with Epros casting a murderous glance his way.

"Well-"Stan started indignantly.

"Silence!" Leontore leaped forward, stopping unexpectedly in front of Ari. "A Trial! I assign a Trial. You win, you get the disc. You lose, you die!"

"What?" Marlene panicked.

Leontore whirled around, waving a paw and opening a wall to reveal another blue portal. "A test of strength!"

"Me!" Big Bull volunteered excitedly.

Leontore cackled, his breath snapping like embers. "Yes! Come, come with me!" He bounded into the blue portal, with the Bull running excitedly behind him.

"Be careful!" Ari called before the portal snapped shut.

***

Big Bull was really looking forward to this test. He was running so fast he was forced to come back to jog beside the cat, whom looked annoyed at being outrun so easily.

Pausing now in a circular arena, Leontore whirled around and spat a fan of flames in front of him that Big Bull easily dodged.

"We duel, yes, we duel!" The cat sat on his haunches, eyes narrowed in some emotion the Bull couldn't identify. "I will not shift out of this form, so do not fear." He stood up, slinking toward him now, glowing in the gloom of the dark room.

Big Bull cracked his knuckles, chuckling mostly to himself. "I ain't got a problem with bashing kitty skulls!"

With a roar the cat leaped forward, gleaming claws extended to slash the Bull's skin.

…But he wasn't there. Big Bull ran behind Leontore and snatched his tail, hauling him in a long circle before releasing him into the wall.

With a thud the cat hit the wall, slumping limply down to lie on his side with a moan.

Big Bull stalked over, smirking hugely. "Is that all?"

Right as he approached the prone form of the cat, Leontore suddenly snapped his eyes open and leaped up, pushing over the Bull with his body weight and dragged his claws across his chest.

Big Bull bucked, running around, ignoring the pain and instead rammed into the wall. Stunned, the cat stumbled for a moment before leaping clear over his head and slashing his claws at his back.

The claws left searing, burning marks that tore into the Bull's skin. With a wild battle cry Big Bull drew his fist back and let ice gather around it before punching the cat in the side.

Ice blisters formed in the fur that seemed to have trouble melting off. Leontore shot out a burst of fire that Big Bull quickly avoided, and then the cat jumped back before he could punch him again.

Leontore suddenly became invisible.

Puzzled, Big Bull stared around then stumbled as he felt razor sharp fangs sink into his arm. Flexing his muscles, which caused the blood to flow faster; with all of his strength he slammed his arm into the wall.

There was a noise like exploding glass as shards of the rock wall collapsed. With a hiss Leontore reappeared, only to get an ice punch to the face.

Crystals formed rapidly on the cat's muzzle and around his eyes. Claws scraped at the ice but during the momentary pause the Bull delivered a massive, charged up punch.

Leontore flew through the air and landed heavily on his side, ears twitching in annoyance. It was obvious he still had some fight in him, but when Big Bull wearily approached, the cat simply rose to his paws and shook himself.

"Enough. I do not wish to engage myself in a to the death challenge." His voice was calmer now, and so were his eyes.

Big Bull gave a disappointed frown. "Aw, really?"

Waving his tail, the portal reopened. "I'm afraid so. This way."

Stepping into the blistering coldness, Big Bull gave a huge grin.

***

Stan hadn't expected him to win.

Big Bull emerged, bleeding badly in many places but seemingly unaware of the damage.

Marlene stepped forward and started to heal him, and Leontore paced forward toward Ari.

"I have been bested."

"Nah, you had lots of energy still in ya!" Big Bull disagreed.

Flicking his ears, the cat continued, "True, but I do not wish to permanently harm the Bull. He has impressed me as it is." Removing the disc from the band around his neck, Leontore tossed it to Ari. "That disc activates the Stone Circle of Tenel, use it wisely. The wind howls in distress at the Rising Rain clouds, are you for or against it?"

"Against. Like we said earlier, he has our friend, and we have no interest in joining him." Ari said.

A long pause, then the cat dipped his head. "I see. Allow me to help you. Bull, step forward."

Big Bull shrugged, shoving off Marlene as she tried to finish his shoulder, and approached the Shapeshifter.

Leontore raised a paw and sent out a jet of bluish fire that engulfed the Bull entirely. Before anyone could panic, it was over.

"It's like I just got a power boost!" Big Bull said excitedly.

"Fight well, O Strong One." Leontore looked at Coracinus now. "If you plan on fighting Melas, make sure your friends are with you. You are still quite young."

"Of course," he replied, nodding in respect.

Leontore gestured for them to leave, then he leaped into the air, seemingly straight for Ari, but he vanished in a puff of smoke before then.

***

After a brief period of rest, the friends now headed for Madril, and the Stone Circle near it.

"Who has the Highland's disc?"

Stan shrugged. "How the hell do I know?"

"_You don't know anything, you stupid Evil King."_

Ignoring Rosalyn's jibes, but a little uneasy at the fact that she seemed to be just a little clearer now as she walked a little to the right to him, in her usual position just behind Ari.

No one else saw her, even when Marlene passed right through her to tap Ari on the shoulder.

"I bet Melas has the disc for the Highlands. How boring to have to fight these Shapeshifters."

Coracinus clacked his beak. "It will be necessary to save Linda."

"Of that I quite agree, it's not a matter of secrecy." Epros still sounded faintly irritated, and as far as Stan knew he hadn't put down that card yet.

The Madril Stone Circle was rather desolate looking, but when the friends approached it they noticed a sort of glow around the edges.

"The heck?" Big Bull grumbled.

Stan suddenly noticed Rosalyn was kneeling down around the edges, studying something.

_What are you doing, you ghost of a Hero?_

When Rosalyn lifted her head, looking straight at him, Stan felt surprised to see her eyes weren't their usual light yellow, but a gleaming silver._ "Tell Coracinus to do the spell right here."_

"Hey, Shapeshifter!" Stan ordered. The crow bobbed his head up and down in response. "Do your spell thing, right here!"

Coracinus leaped down and performed his spell, red runes appearing in the mess of black feathers on his body before flying around and plastering themselves to the gear door entrance of Madril.

When the gears opened, the runes sliding off like water, they saw a swirling blue portal inside.

"That's just marvelous," Stan complained. "We don't know if this is a friendly Shapeshifter or not."

"_Only one way to find out."_ Rosalyn informed him, walking inside. Not to be outdone, Stan vanished back inside Ari's shadow as the boy and his friends stepped into the twisting energy.

This time Stan didn't feel the cold as they warped, but when he resurfaced he saw a bright, foresty environment with plenty of glowing flowers and bright sunshine. A single blue torch stood out on a tree, and Ari addressed it.

"We come in peace," he joked.

The blue swirled, the wind swished, and a figure appeared out of the gloom. She had blue hair in a ponytail, with dark eyes and pale skin. She was wearing a green dress, and a single butterfly was perched delicately on her finger. She let it go, and addressed them calmly.

"I am Abterqen, Why do you disturb my rest?"

"We got an upstart Evil King to overthrow." Stan snapped. He looked through the forest for Rosalyn, but he didn't see her.

Abterqen nodded. "I see." She reached around her neck and pulled out a necklace on an ivy chain, complete with a red disc. "You want this, correct?"

"Yes, please." Ari spoke up.

"A Trial, will you mind?"

"Of what?" Marlene said uneasily.

"Intelligence."

Kisling, whom had been unnaturally quiet, suddenly grinned that silly, goofy smile that Stan hated. "I judge you are discussing about one solitary individual such as me. I'd be privileged to execute an analysis of astuteness."

Abterqen bowed. "Yes, so you would. Allow me to ask you, then." She looked thoughtful, and then said, "What English word is nine letters long, and can remain an English word at each step as you remove one letter at a time, right down to a single letter. List the letter you remove each time, and the words that result at each step."

"Eh-what?" Big Bull said in confusion.

Stan pulled back in surprise, his shadow form twitching in annoyance at the fact he didn't get it. Ari just stared, looking blank, Marlene had her arms crossed, huffing and grumbling about how useless it would be to know a word like that. Epros looked thoughtful, and Coracinus kept scratching out words in the dirt.

Eventually, all eyes went on Kisling. The professor was thinking hard, still grinning, and obviously enjoying the challenge.

"Ah, I've reached the answer to this quandary. The response is moderately undemanding really, and I might have even addressed a parallel conundrum in my manuscript 'Assessing the tribulations of the human mind'."

"Get on with it," Stan growled.

Kisling nodded, adjusting his coat. "The word is "startling." Remove the "l" and it becomes starting. Then remove the "t" and it is staring. The rest of the changes are as follows: string - sting - sing - sin - in - and finally, I." Looking smug beyond all conceivable measure, the professor grinned triumphantly at Abterqen.

She blinked in surprise, and then bowed. "Truly you are a professor of great cunning. I award you the disc of Madril." She removed the disc and handed it to Ari, then removed a book from somewhere behind her.

Taking the book in surprise, Kisling studied the ancient lexicon and noted the strange letters and runes across it.

"Once you understand it, it will make sense. You will know where and when to use it." The female Shapeshifter said. She paused, and then added, "That book is not for fighting. I hope you will have the knowledge to use it when the time comes."

Kisling and the others thanked her, and then they left.

"Well, you crackpot, you're useful after all." Stan said grudgingly to Kisling, who snickered in response, obviously still pleased.

"One more friendly Shapeshifter," Coracinus told them. "Sargarious. I think he guards Rashelo."

"Let's head over there," Ari replied, reaching for the Watcher's temporary discs, obviously deciding to just warp there instead of walking.

"_Maybe you'll actually be useful in this Trial."_

Annoyed, Stan looked around and spotted Rosalyn standing next to a tree across from them.

_Where were you at, thunder thighs?_

Ignoring the comment, the Heroine replied, _"What do you care?"_

Just then Ari asked, "Stan, are you ready?"

"Eh? Oh. Of course I am, Slave! Get on with it; the landscape ain't gettin' any better!"

***

The waves of the ocean nearby sounded broken and distorted thanks to the wrecked landscape. It annoyed Stan to no end. The torn up environment made it difficult to find a proper place for Coracinus to perform the spell.

Once the glowing blue runes had stuck themselves to the rock beside the Stone Circle like ice, another portal opened and howled into life.

Stan still didn't see Rosalyn as they entered.

The small cavern they emerged in was freezing cold, puffs of frozen breath appearing in front of the friends. Marlene was about to complain but evidently decided to shut her trap.

Which was good, or Stan would have did it for her.

Nothing was there, at first, but they saw what looked like frozen, grey fire in a torch on the wall. The sconce was shaped like a dragon's head, and in a whoosh of wind and ice without Ari having to speak, a polar bear appeared.

It had thick, white fur and massive paws and claws. The eyes appeared to be constantly shedding slow, clear tears. The bear loomed over them all, and Stan was tempted to adjust his size just so he wouldn't be shorter than it.

The bear blinked mournfully, its voice depressed. "My name is Sargarious. What brings you to my lair?"

"Why aren't you in Pospos?" Big Bull interrupted before Ari could speak. The redhead cast an irritated glare at the Bull.

"I was banished from there as punishment, sent to this tropical paradise." Sargarious bowed his head bitterly.

"We're sorry," Coracinus said sympathetically. "But one of our friends is captured. May we have the Stone Circle's disc to rescue her?"

"How many do you have?" The bear moaned, resting his head on his paws in a tired and bored fashion.

"We have…Tawnvele's disc, Abterqen's, and Leontore's." Ari replied.

His constantly weeping eyes soon shed enough tears to cause a frozen waterfall to appear on his muzzle. With a swipe, the bear removed the icicles. He studied it idly before tossing it aside.

"I see. What's left?"

"Yours," Marlene began. "Melas's and Infernose's."

"There's six Stone Circles," Sargarious sounded emotionless. "And seven of us. Coracinus don't have a disc, right?"

When the Black Shapeshifter agreed, the bear gave a bored nod of his head. "Ah. Okay. Tell ya what. Give me a rhyme on the Arctic and I'll let ya have the disc, I don't need the old thing anyway, just doin' my job." He heaved a sigh that sent ice creeping toward them.

Ari looked at Epros. "Sounds like your thing."

For a moment Epros didn't say anything, and then he put away his card, which had begun to freeze over, and pushed a strand of hair from his eyes.

"The Polar Bear never makes his bed;  
He sleeps on a cake of ice instead.  
He has no blanket, no quilt, no sheet  
except the rain and snow and sleet.  
He drifts about on a white ice floe  
while cold winds howl and blizzards blow  
and the temperature drops to forty below.  
The Polar Bear never makes his bed;  
the blanket he pulls up over his head  
is lined with soft and feathery snow.  
If ever he rose and turned on the light,  
He would find a world of bathtub white,  
and icebergs floating through the night."

Sargarious cracked a smile, revealing fangs made out of pure ice. "That's pretty good."

Epros said so low that only Ari and Stan could hear, "That's by a poet named William Jay Smith."

"I don't care if it's by a homeless peasant, as long as that bear likes it." Stan hissed back.

Sargarious snapped off the blue disc and flipped it into Ari's hands. "Be careful," he intoned mournfully, lowering his head again. "Melas is terrible, and Infernose is a great fighter too."

"Can you tell us anything on them?" Coracinus asked. "I've barely met the people."

"Infernose isn't fire, ironically. That's Leontore. Infernose is lightning." The bear said. "Melas is the same as Coracinus, and he should know, he used to work with him."

"We know, he used to." Ari looked at him. "But I still trust him."

Coracinus spread his wings and bowed low. "Thank you." Strangely, the ice had yet to form on his wings.

"Let us depart, swiftly we must, may the Gods help us, our cause is just." Epros turned and floated away, with the others quickly after him.

Sargarious put a massive paw out to touch Ari with a surprising gentleness. "Give the magician this." He dropped a strange, silver card that seemed to be made out of ice. "It's sharp and will never melt, may he add it to his deck."

"Good bye and thank you." Ari said before they left the frozen cave. The outside air was startling warm in comparison, and Ari turned to face the gang.

"We've only got Infernose, and then Melas is next."

"I think we've got a chance at beating him," Coracinus explained. "As long as we take down Infernose."

"Will he not become stronger?" Kisling asked.

"Yes, but so will I. And with the gifts we're getting, we have a decent shot at victory. That book Kisling got might even help us against him."

"Then let us travel to Pospos, it's the only one left, besides the Highlands." Ari sighed. "We've gotta rest first to be in any condition to battle him."

"That's the spirit, Ari."

Everyone jerked in surprise, except Stan who thought he was still the only one who saw her, and as their eyes fell on the spectral form of Rosalyn Ari took a step forward and gasped:

"Rosalyn!"


	28. Chapter Nineteen: Last Words

Chapter Nineteen: Last Words

**_Thanks for staying with the story so far, I appreciate it, despite the massive OOC going on here._**

**_***_**

Ari blinked, reaching out cautiously to touch the specter. His hand passed right through. "Rosalyn?" He repeated. "What's happened? How-"

"I'll be darned if I know," she snapped. "This is Stanley's fault. I don't even know how I'm here."

"The Shiro Ryu." Stan said smugly. "Hah! I knew I wasn't insane!"

"Yes you are." Rosalyn glared at him. "And I still don't forgive you!"

"So?" Stan looked entirely unbothered by that statement.

"Incredible, I'd be thoroughly interested in-"Kisling began, only to be interrupted by Epros.

"Even though it is great to see the Heroine," the magician flashed Rosalyn a pleased smile. "Think of the trouble the world is in!"

"Epros is right; we still have to find Infernose." Ari took charge again, leading the way down the path. "We've got to get to Pospos."

***

The snow tossed dancing swirls across the barren landscape, and despite the massive change in environment, the weather stubbornly persisted. Standing beside the worn Triste Stone Circle, Ari looked around.

"We can't just do a spell, can we, Coracinus?"

The raven had changed into an owl to better suit the weather. He fluffed up his black feathers. "I could try to track him," he admitted. "But there's no way of knowing if he's even around here, he could have wandered away like Tawnvele did. He was really far from the Addashi Circle. Infernose doesn't need to hide like the others, since he works for Melas."

"How are we going to find him?" Big Bull groaned.

Kisling looked down. "Gentlemen?"

"Pick it up, we don't have all day!" Stan roared, drowning out Kisling's voice.

"Guys?" The professor tried again, only to get ignored.

"Oh shut up Stanley, you've been useless this entire trip." Rosalyn stuck her tongue out at the King, and he bristled.

"HEY!"

Everyone froze, looking at Kisling. He cleared his throat.

"These tracks seem to be decent evidence of a large specimen passing this way."

In the snow there were large prints that split slightly down the middle. Big Bull gave an excited snort, stomping his feet.

"Look, those are…Er…deer tracks I think!"

"A rather large sample, judging by the distance between them." Kisling agreed.

"This way then." Ari took off, with Marlene after him, and the others fell after the boy in pursuit. Not far into the snowy landscape the friends found the tracks were getting easier to follow. They found some scrubby forest around the edges of a great ridge that billowed white fog, and they soon realized they were looking down on a hot spring.

"The deer ain't in there, probably." Big Bull peered down into the murky depths.

"How do we know this isn't a regular deer?" Marlene questioned.

"I doubt any deer is that large." Rosalyn replied.

Coracinus transformed into a wolf, padding along near the tracks, looking for any sign of the deer. They continued their long journey into the snow, sometimes struggling through deeper snow drifts and at other times basically walking on snow dusted rock. Occasionally they found they had to drop down into small valleys after Coracinus tracked the deer into them, and the friends feared losing their grip the more they traveled.

Light flowed weakly from a gap in the clouds, offering sparse warmth to the friends. It appeared the prints were lost in a snowless expanse of stone at first, but it was Epros that found them again, along with an imprint in the snow with long, thin marks that signaled the deer had also lied down to rest.

"We're not far behind," Coracinus barked excitedly, racing ahead. The tired friends followed, hating the snow more and more now.

Twisting ridges formed by the earthquakes served as paths to the acquaintances, and they all looked uneasily down into the frozen abyss below them. Once they left the warmth of the hot springs, it all only seemed worse for it.

Night began to fall, but the friends refused to rest. There were moments when they seemed only moments behind the deer, only to lose it again in a patch of snowless dirt.

Marlene broke the silence, her voice so unexpected that Kisling jumped. "Why don't the Shapeshifters assume many different forms during our fights?"

"It's considered dishonorable." Coracinus answered from up ahead. "Shapeshifters get honored for their mastery of a single form, not being able to turn into several forms that you're mediocre at."

"Ah, I see. Interesting. I assume the evil Shapeshifters will not follow this rule?"

The wolf looked over his shoulder at Marlene, pausing briefly. "They might, or maybe not. Tawnvele didn't shift, but Infernose is older and may have mastery over more than one form." Suddenly, his ears flicked forward and he waved his tail for them to follow. "There it is!"

Framed against the moon, head lifted proudly, was a gigantic stag.

The deer had long antlers with so many points it was like looking at a tree. They blossomed everywhere, and at their ends electricity danced between many points. Snorting and bellowing, the deer faced them, dark brown and white fur shining with more electric power as it called up the energy.

The friends were grateful that they were on a rocky expanse, the snow thin here, and thus they wouldn't be at a disadvantage during the fight. The deer could easily wade through the snow with its long legs.

Somewhere along their journey Rosalyn had vanished, and Ari wondered where she was now as he stepped forward. "Are you Infernose?" He questioned.

The deer approached, shaking its head from side to side. "So I am! I am Infernose, what do you want of me?"

"We want your disc," Kisling explained. "To save our friend, and quite possibly the world."

Infernose reared up on his hind legs, kicking his hooves. Landing heavily, he snorted once more, shooting warm fog from his nostrils. "You will have to fight me for it, whelps! My Master would not be pleased if I didn't put up a fight."

Coracinus growled, the fur on his neck bristling, and he began to circle the deer. Infernose bucked his head again, lowered his antlers, and letting loose another bellow, charged.

Ari stepped out of the way just in time, Marlene beside him. She stepped back, keeping a careful eye on her friends, as they began to fight.

Stan reared up out of Ari's shadow, letting loose a blast of Ice magic. It crept toward the deer and succeeded in freezing the land in front of it. Infernose slipped, ironically, sliding along the ground, and the Evil King chuckled.

"If I can't hit him directly, I'll do it _indirectly._" Stan told Ari. The boy ignored him, springing forward to hit the deer in the side.

With a bark of pain, Infernose swung around and charged again. This time lightning fired from his antlers, branching everywhere, hitting the friends. The blows weren't too serious though, and Ari got another hit in before Epros slashed its side. The deer twisted, examining the wounds on his flanks with two silver eyes, then turned around and kicked with his back legs.

All of the air knocked from his lungs, Ari gasped, falling flat onto his back. Ignoring Stan's jibes, he rolled over and got back up. Stan reared up, slamming the deer in his back. Infernose twisted, snorting and kicking, only to have his fur set on fire by Big Bull. A sharp pain in his legs alerted the deer to Coracinus dragging razor fangs across his flesh.

More lightning crackled, chasing away his attackers, but Kisling performed a spell of his own. Infernose reared up again, balancing on two legs, as fire erupted around him.

Bucking and jolting, the deer suddenly transformed. Silver mist scattered, and then rapidly connected again after a moment of hanging perfectly still.

Now facing them was a large mottled eagle. He lifted his wings, obviously trying to escape. Everyone prepared to attack him before he could get away, but suddenly Infernose became enshrouded in a circle of lights.

Down he fell, collapsing on the ground, immobile.

Marlene gasped, finishing healing Ari's back, and stepped forward. "Who did that?"

"I did."

They turned around to see a bored looking Rosalyn.

"Where were you at, Hero woman?" Stan snarled.

"I told you, I don't really have any control of when I appear. And Shiro is too weak to teach me."

"_Shiro?_" Epros sounded amazed.

"Yeah. He's real." Rosalyn replied.

While they were talking, Ari walked over and knelt down by Infernose.

"Where's the disc?"

"You won't get it," moaned the Shapeshifter. His form was rapidly breaking down.

"Yes we will, we've gotten Tawnvele already. The disc was there when he died too." Ari said mildly.

"Got…Tawnvele? My brother?" Infernose moaned. "My little brother."

Ari hesitated, and then patted the eagle's form. "I'm sorry, but he attacked us first. We just want our friend back."

Infernose looked at him. "…Melas doesn't have her."

Ari said nothing.

"I don't think he has her. I think Addonexus, his Majesty, does."

Ari nodded slowly, waiting for more besides what they already thought.

"I suppose it's too late for us. Tawnvele and I, we just went with Melas because he promised we'd survive. And…when you're immortal, you want to live as the best. Awful I know. I'm glad…" He turned his silver eyes turned Coracinus. "The young one got away. As long as he lives, our future is bright."

"How come?"

"Shapeshifters can mate with anyone. Our species can still go on, no matter whom we're with. When we become a certain animal, we can understand them."

Ari nodded. "Animal?"

"Human. Ghost. Animal. Doesn't matter. You can usually figure out what we normally were by our casual form. Coracinus is…special…" Infernose snorted, then with a great shudder he drew himself together, (he had almost completely broke apart), and whispered hoarsely, "You're Ari, aren't you?"

Ari looked nervous, and then said, "Yes."

"You're famous in the Diablerie. Servant to the Shadow King. Defeated Beiloune. Be careful child. But there are also many in the Diablerie who...would follow you…not all ghosts are bad." With a sigh Infernose closed his eyes. "Tell Linda…I'm sorry, for what we did to her. We had no right to capture her…"

Then he vanished in a flash of silver energy. Not just one, but two discs dropped. A bright purple one and a white one.

Ari gasped. "Guys, this is the Highlands disc, and the Pospos disc!"

"What? Melas doesn't have it?" Kisling said in surprise.

"I'm certain this is the real thing."

"Does he _want_ to fight us?" Big Bull said.

Ari listened to his friends talk, holding the two discs, and he thought over the words Infernose had said.

_But there are also many in the Diablerie who…would follow you…_

Ari blinked. Him? Why _him?_

"We have the last discs!" Stan, whom had been in his physical form while talking to Rosalyn, suddenly cheered from behind him. His dark, deep laughter spread through the field, echoing slightly and causing everyone to flinch.

"Let's go-"Ari looked around. "Where's Rosalyn?"

"She left again, right after Infernose passed on." Coracinus explained. He wagged his tail, green eyes bright. "Let's leave!"

Ari and the others used the altered Guidance Stone, vanishing from view. The wind screeched and tossed snow, hiding any traces of the battle.

The sky rumbled.

***

Beiloune didn't seem surprised to see them. "What do you know; it's the deviant and the others." He laughed darkly. "Back already?"

Ari showed him the discs. "We have them all, now all we need is the Spiritus."

"You bested Melas?" Beiloune questioned.

"No, Infernose dropped two discs when he died." Ari looked thoughtful. "Do you think Melas _wants_ to fight us?"

"That is what I believe. Trap or not you don't really have a choice," he replied.

Beiloune moved toward them, and Ari thought he really did seem old now. He almost limped, eyes tired but still bright with cunning. Snapping his fingers, the old man coughed as he waited for something to happen.

"We don't have all day!" Stan raged.

Beiloune ignored him, and finally, slowly, something materialized in the air. It looked like a globe of pure, white energy. Flowing from it came strings of light, and the room seemed just a little bit colder since its appearance.

"I have guarded this for a long time, longer than I care to recall." Beiloune studied the orb. "The Spiritus will need a new master now I suppose. I may not be as strong as a god, but I have more than enough power to watch myself and Marlene…I do not wish you to go with them to fight Melas and Addonexus, my dear."

Marlene shrugged. "I have to." She put her hand on her hip, scowling. "Linda is my friend too."

"So independent. I remember that trait from you." Beiloune chuckled, but Ari thought he looked sad. Turning his eyes onto Ari now, the old man continued. "Very well. Take the Spiritus, take it directly to Wap Wap, and when you get there, hold it aloft."

He waved his hand and the Spiritus floated toward Ari. Taking the orb, the boy bowed his head. "Thank you, we promise to do our best. What else do we do?"

"Follow Shiro's instructions." Beiloune made a gesture. "Go! Be off now!"

As Ari and the others prepared to leave again, Beiloune raised his voice. "Deviant. I mean Ari."

Ari looked behind him, raising an eyebrow.

"Take good care of Marlene."

Ari smiled and then nodded, preparing to set off toward Utopia Corridor and what was left of the Highland Village.


	29. Chapter Twenty: Melas Kardia

Chapter Twenty: Melas Kardia

The waves brushed the sides of the Island as the friends stood in the center of it. Ari looked around nervously, his fingers tightening around the slippery, cold orb in his palms. It felt…powerful, just holding it.

Ari exchanged looks and nods with his friends, then lifted the orb high overhead.

Nothing happened at first, but suddenly the orb lifted into the air.

Light from all of the Stone Circles twisted into the sky, forming into one gigantic streak of color that merged with the Spiritus. The Spiritus glowed brightly, the color of a rainbow, before almost fading altogether.

Unexpectedly, the Spiritus fired down pure white radiance onto them, and Ari shut his eyes tight.

When it cleared, they had no idea where they were standing.

Everything around them was pure white, with flowing strands of energy that gave it motion. The world was comprised of nothing but a black platform in the middle of it.

And there, looking amused was Rosalyn.

She yelped in surprise when everyone except Stan started giving her hugs or pats on the back and shoulders. Ari grinned at her. "You're okay!"

"I've been okay for a while," laughed the Hero. "Just bored. But now that you're here, and the Spiritus is powered up, maybe that creepy dragon that's been looking at me and speaking in a whisper will be strong enough to help. Sorry it took me a moment, I wasn't sure what to do to activate this darn thing."

"Where's this dragon?" Stan said, looking a little uncomfortable by so much light.

"Shiro Ryu?" Rosalyn called.

A hiss and emerging from the whiteness around them came a long, serpent like figure. There were no wings, but it flew around easily. The dragon seemed to be comprised of bands of light; the only thing solid was its eyes, a pale gold. The dragon drew itself up, mane rippling, blinking sagely down on them. The Spirit spoke in a voice like the wind, gliding softly but with enough force to be heard.

"Welcome, friends. What use do you have of the Spiritus, and we Spirits of the Astral Realm?"

"Addonexus is using the Necomortis to destroy our world." Ari began. "And we have to save our friend, along with fixing this mess."

"Addonexus!" The light flashed like a storm around them and Shiro tossed his head like an irritated animal. "The Hellhound! We remember him." Dipping his head low to look into Rosalyn's eyes, the dragon sighed. "Young one, forgive me. I couldn't think straight or manifest myself properly to help you."

"That's okay," the Hero said, obviously a little uneasy.

Shiro nodded, breathing a white mist from his mouth. Ari just now noticed that Rosalyn was missing her demonic characteristics, except for a slight pointed angle to her ears.

"You are now back on the mortal plane with your friends. Well done, many don't know how to activate the Spiritus."

Rosalyn gave a flustered thank you. Shiro whirled around to face the group.

"Are you leader here, young one?" The Spirit asked Ari, who gave a shrug while the others nodded. "Then I pass the powers onto you and your friends, but you are the one whom will carry the strongest spell…and the biggest responsibility."

When Ari nodded again, Shiro twisted into the air some more and called, "Spirits of the Astral Realm, these mortals require our aid in defeating Addonexus. Lend them your might!"

The energy swooped down and buried the friends in soft lavender light. With a startled yelp Ari covered his eyes. Everything felt cold and then warm, switching rapidly and giving him such a weird feeling he almost felt sick.

Voices murmured in his ears, and shapes danced around him despite his eyes being closed. When he dared to crack open his eyes again, he was back on Wap Wap Island.

And Rosalyn was with them.

"What happened?" Coracinus gave a disoriented moan, stumbling around in his true appearance, almost falling flat on his scaly face.

"Feels like I hit a rock wall." Big Bull mumbled.

Rosalyn kept touching her arms and then the ground, as if to make sure she was really here. She then yanked her rapier out and pointed it at Stan. "Stanley!"

Her sword unexpected blazed pure white, and she jumped, surprised, almost dropping her sword.

Stan laughed. "Wow, can't even handle your own sword?"

"Hey, everything feels uncanny." Kisling complained.

Epros didn't appear bothered by it, but Ari had to agree the buzzing in his head was mildly irritating.

_Young one._

Ari jerked, looking around.

_Peace. It is I, Shiro Ryu. Do not fear; I will guide you to Melas._

Ari suddenly just…knew…what to do.

He closed his eyes and extended his hand. Energy collected around his palm and suddenly swirled into a glowing portal, dark and thick with red energy.

Shiro spoke again.

_The Spiritus will puncture the darker planes, allowing you to quickly pass through the gaps to wherever you wish to be. The tunnel you have just opened should release you and your friends at Melas's floating castle._

Silently giving thanks, Ari told his friends what he had just heard.

"Let's go fight Melas!" Big Bull stomped his feet. "We've gotta save the Diva!"

Epros agreed readily, and Ari took a deep breath before entering the portal.

Darkness clung to him like a second skin, and it was only by sheer force of will that he didn't panic. Shiro told him if he panicked, then the tunnel could close on them and who knows what happens to those trapped in between realms.

The blackness was like night fire, but Ari knew his friends were counting on him and didn't flinch away from it. When the tunnel finally came to an end, he made sure all of his friends were out before closing the portal.

Everything around him was made of dark stone. Torches flickered in their sconces and clouds hung heavily outside the windows. The air was thick with the scent of death, and dark stains lined the walls.

"What's happened here? This is indeed most queer." Epros muttered.

"Was there a fight?" Rosalyn guessed.

Kisling looked around. "Judging by the dimension and magnitude of each separate blemish, I'd say there was previously an appalling fight here. Unfortunately, or perhaps providentially, the stains are quite aged."

"We're in some kind of dungeon, perhaps? When floating I doubt windows or not will make a difference to a prisoner that can't fly." The Hero murmured.

"Why fight Melas at all?" Stan said suddenly. "He doesn't have Linda; we could just go straight to Addonexus."

"The clouds don't shift by themselves," Kisling explained. "According to one of the Spirits which has been instructing me on the use of the powers from the Spiritus, she says Addonexus may craft them, but it's Melas that directs and activates them. He may also impede our clash with Addonexus. Not only that, but…" Here he added dryly, "Getting easily into Addonexus's abode will necessitate an exceptional key."

"Not just that," snapped Rosalyn. "But Melas has been causing trouble for those people not in the negative realm, he needs to be stopped!"

Ari raised his hands. "We're here now, let's just _go_."

The friends crossed the corridors quietly, speaking in low voices as Coracinus led the way. His black fur now had a faint white sheen to it, and the wolf kept pausing to sniff the floor.

"Where're all the ghosts at lately? The bad ones. Not that I'm complaining." Marlene said thoughtfully.

"The Rising Rain clouds signify the return of someone very evil. Even the ghosts don't want to be around for that. Or, all the ghosts are with Addonexus and he's planning something." Rosalyn replied.

"I found his scent trail, this way." Coracinus took off, and the others were right behind him. They ran faster than they ever had before, Ari was stunned. It was like he was a car in a video game that just hit a speed boost.

Each window they passed Ari looked out of, noticing the oddly stiff gray storm clouds. He had teleported his friends somewhere, but exactly where he wasn't sure. They were beyond the Highlands though, that much he knew. It was really Shiro that showed him where to "poke" a hole at in the dimensions, he just followed orders.

Emerging from a long flight of stairs, they saw that up here it was cleaner. No guards were present but according to Coracinus the scent trails were fresh. They entered more flights of stairs, even passing where Linda had been imprisoned, and Ari felt a fresh wave of sadness for the poor girl.

Why _Linda?_

She was so sweet and naïve, why was she so important? What made her so significant that Addonexus wanted her, and where was the Hellhound anyway? Melas's castle moved, did his? No one really knew. Rumor had it he had moved into the Diablerie, but Ari didn't know.

It irritated him when he couldn't help his friends. It had been about…two weeks? A month? He had lost track of time. She was probably scared.

_We're coming though_, he thought.

Coracinus paused at the top of a large tower they had navigated in a matter of seconds. Tossing his head and whining, he lifted his pupil devoid green eyes at the friends. "Guys, we've got a problem."

They approached the window, and Ari looked down. Down below the window was a sort of courtyard, and in that courtyard was a contingent of ghosts. Standing in front of them was Melas, snarling in his true form, pacing back and forth. A strange device was glowing a sickly orange color and from within its depths…

A girl was thrown out. She landed heavily on her side, gasping, slightly transparent at first but becoming more and more clear every moment. Melas grabbed the girl roughly, and his voice carried up to the high tower's windows. The friends increased senses heard every word.

"Well I'll be. Who's this?"

The girl's eyes turned wide and fearful, and Ari recognized Maggie, the leader of the street gang in Madril and Robert's friend slash rival. Her hair was loose and untidy, hanging limply around her shoulders.

"Silent treatment? Don't be rude, my dear." His green eyes glowed. "I won't hurt you. My name is Melas Kardia, what's yours?"

"M-Maggie." She suddenly lifted her chin defiantly. "L-let me go!"

"But why would I do that, dear? Addonexus always needs servants, and we find those from the negative realms are always wonderful at it." He cooed at her softly, like she was a young child. It made Ari shiver. "However…If you don't want to, we can just kill you now. My nice little machine will guarantee there are plenty more servants where you came from. To think, it punctures the negative realm! It'll make up for the master being cross with me for giving Infernose my disc."

Maggie turned her head to the side to escape his evil eyes, and Ari found himself admiring her bravery. "Where am I?" She ignored his other statements though she was obviously scared.

"Welcome to my castle. We're currently floating quite a few hundred feet above the landscape. I could just flick my wrist and down you would go, my dear."

"I'm not your dear!"

"Cheeky, aren't you? One more chance." He suddenly threw her on the ground, and she let out a scream of pain. "Submit! Submit to my master's new regime!"

The ghosts screeched in delight as the Shapeshifter tossed his head back and laughed, one heavy claw on Maggie's back.

"Let's get him." Rosalyn gripped the handle of her sword.

Epros nodded, extending his hands. Suddenly Ari felt his feet leave the ground and he realized he was floating, like Epros.

Big Bull cracked his fists then drew his hand back. "That Spirit talkin' in my head better be right, or this is gonna hurt!" He punched the wall, knocking a huge hole in the stones. Pieces fell into the courtyard, hitting the surprised ghosts.

They all jumped down, Epros's spell protecting them, and they landed lightly on the ground. Epros stalked forward, passing Ari, whom was surprised because usually his friends seemed to wait for him to lead.

Not that he was complaining.

Melas looked amused by all that was going on, and Maggie struggled to her feet, her eyes suddenly flashing surprise at spotting Ari.

"Ari!" She called. He gave her a reassuring smile before looking into the Shapeshifter's eyes.

Melas waved his tail, stopping the lines of elite knight ghosts from attacking. "Well, I _am _surprised. It's Epros, Coracinus, and the other rebels. And the traitor Evil King too."

Stan smirked.

"Don't feel so triumphant, my master and I have anticipated your betrayal. All planned. Addonexus does enjoy a good game though, so he wanted to give you a second chance." He chuckled good naturedly. "Coracinus, powered up by the Spiritus like the others are you? How entertaining! I look forward to our fight. Though I have to ask; what makes you think I won't pull out the Alpha card on you? Figuratively, of course."

Coracinus smiled. "You can't."

"Oh? Why not? I know you haven't given your allegiance to anyone else."

"I have, actually. I knew if I ever got powers from the Spiritus you'd pull your rank on me and get me to work for you." The Black Shapeshifter turned into his true form, eyes narrowed, round muzzle shaking from side to side as if tasting the air. "So I gave my loyalty to someone else."

"Who? That's not possible! I don't see how-"It was the first time Melas seemed surprised.

"Of course not. When we were in Triste together, I asked Linda if she would let me join her 'pack', so to speak. She was puzzled but said yes. That means I have officially left your pack, and no magic of hierarchy can force me to listen to you."

Melas snarled. "I see." Inside, the Black Heart was confused. Surely Shapeshifters couldn't be part of a non-Shapeshifter pack? He could reach for the energy right now and try, but there was so much Holy energy covering his nephew that he would have to search for the power.

"You're not an Alpha anymore. Infernose and Tawnvele, your pack, are dead. I left your pack. I'm in Ari's pack now, and since Linda sees Ari as her leader he is now my Alpha." He turned to Ari. "If you ordered me to jump off of a cliff, I would have to, by the laws of my people."

Melas narrowed his eyes. "That's all very well; I imagined something like this would happen, no? If I can't use your powers, then I'll simply kill you all, take the Spiritus, and…" He smirked. "Defeat Addonexus myself. Shapeshifters don't bow to the will of a Hellhound." He clicked his claws, making all of the ghosts perk up. "Kill them all."

With a wild scream the ghosts fell upon the friends. Ari listened to the advice Shiro was giving him, unleashing waves of white energy while skipping backwards and swinging his sword. Every swing unleashed a flourish of energy that decimated the hordes of knight ghosts coming at him.

Everywhere he looked, Ari saw his friends, even Marlene whom previously had no fighting prowess, unleashing powered up versions of past attacks. The ghosts didn't stand a chance, not with the feral energy of the Spiritus tearing apart the landscape and seeping through their very armor.

Some ghosts began to shriek in fear and run away, into the castle, off the side of the cliff, anywhere they could to avoid the stinging light energy. Rosalyn was the brightest of them all besides him, and Ari knew she took out dozens of ghosts.

Unexpectedly, Melas, whom had been watching disinterestedly, launched into the fray. His dark aura let out tendrils of choking darkness that tried to strangle him, but Ari fought him off. The friends were desperate to deal with the hundred ghosts still remaining and Melas at the same time. With a sudden roar Coracinus attacked Melas himself.

They rolled over and over, Melas being larger and stronger appearing to have the upper hand. However, the Spiritus lent the younger Shapeshifter strength. The others were left to deal with ghosts, unable to intervene unless they ended up hitting Coracinus.

Melas snarled, biting so hard into Coracinus's arm that it almost came off. Dark blood flowed down his arm, and he cried out in agony. Suddenly, all of the black became eclipsed in white and Coracinus struggled to his feet. Catching Melas from underneath, he flexed his muscles, despite his severely injured arm that wept rivulets of blood, and tossed him across the courtyard and into the wall.

The Black Heart hit it hard, and he was dazed for a moment before he shifted into a large, monstrous black bird. He moved across the field like smoke, and the white Shapeshifter dodged just in time.

Rosalyn caught Melas in the face with her sword, and he pulled back in pain. However, he lifted his wings and buffeted powerfully. Winds pushed the Hero over and she would have fallen off if Stan had lunged forward and caught her hand. He hauled her up, and she gave him an odd look, a mixture between gratitude and something else, before she launched back into the attack.

Epros skipped backwards, dodging every talon strike from the black bird, before swiping his cards, Sargarious's among them, into the creature's wings. Melas wouldn't go down though, no matter what Big Bull did, or Kisling, or even Ari.

Stan made an odd gesture with his hand, and then pointed downward. Black fire erupted, completely covering the Shapeshifter. Melas screeched in distress, fear in his eyes, before tearing himself free from the fire.

Ari rushed forward, raising his hand and summoning energy. "You are done!"

A white beam cascaded down from the very sky, and Ari saw Shiro and several other Spirits within it. They crashed down on Melas, and he thrashed, growling in pain, incapable of even thinking straight, he was in so much agony.

While the injured Shapeshifter lay there, his form beginning to break down, Kisling pulled out the book, on instinct, that Abterqen had given him.

He began to recite.

"Spirits and Demons, from above and below."

Melas's eyes snapped open and he let out a wild cry of despair. "No!" He gathered his form together and leaped, in the shape of a black tiger, directly for Kisling. Coracinus intercepted him, his smaller wolf form enough to knock the tiger off course. The white wolf and its opponent struggled vainly for a second, then with a desperate strength Melas threw off the younger Shapeshifter and delivered a terrible blow to his throat.

The tiger sprang forward again, but this time Rosalyn and Stan caught him just in time. Epros and the others hovered nearby, ready to intervene should he break free.

"Banish this creature of evil to the blankest voids…"

"No!" cried Melas again, the fear in his voice made Ari wonder what was going on exactly.

"Where no light nor darkness may enter, for he is not worthy of even the desolate blackness nor the soothing embrace of the light." Kisling looked puzzled, but continued. "Melas Kardia enters the nether realms, and may he never resurface." Kisling raised a hand, pointed it at the Shapeshifter, and smiled slightly. "You are Expelled."

Melas snarled in anguish, breaking free from everyone and leaping toward Kisling again. Big Bull prepared to protect the professor, but suddenly he froze mid leap.

Claws still extended, the tiger began to break down into glittering black particles. "No! Not the nether realms! No one survives there!" His calm, composed demeanor had shattered and his disc like eyes was wide in fear. "No, no, no!" With a last desperate howl he vanished.

"Kisling…what did you do?" Rosalyn asked, breathing heavily.

"I just…well, I had an impulsive instinct to open the book." He explained. "I can't discern what I did."

"Do you know, Coracinus?" Ari asked, turning around. Suddenly, the friends rushed forward. "Coracinus!"

The Black Shapeshifter's eyes were closed, and blood ran from a wound in his side. Marlene was kneeling down by him, her hands on his throat, where the most blood flowed. White energy, mixed with pale green, flowed through fingers.

"It's bad." She admitted. "But the Spirit guiding me says it can be healed."

"Thank goodness. You were so brave, Coracinus." Ari told their friend. The young Shapeshifter smiled faintly, eyes still closed.

"Yeah…but I'm in no condition to fight Addonexus now. You guys will have to."

"Very well, nice to know you aren't dying, Shapeshifter. I've got uses for you yet." Stan smiled.

Coracinus snorted, which caused more blood to stick in his throat. "Yeah, okay, sure thing…Tell Linda…she needs to be patient with Epros sometimes, he can't find a way to properly say what he wants to."

"What do you mean? It's not fatal." Marlene sounded surprised. "You can tell her yourself."

The Shapeshifter shook his head. "No I can't. The Spirits protect me, I lied."

"What?" Big Bull questioned.

"I bluffed. Melas thought Shapeshifters, whom live in packs usually where we come from, couldn't join a pack with humans and ghosts. That's true. Only with other Shapeshifters."

"Does that mean…what I think it means?" Epros asked.

Unexpectedly, Coracinus laughed. "Did you not rhyme, Epros?"

Epros smiled. "I got that curse from Melas a long time ago. That's how we met. Let's say he got mad I won a bet. Of course, I could still rhyme, if I wanted to, all the time."

"You told me before, you love rhymes." Coracinus snickered, and then sighed. "I can either follow Melas into the nether realm…or let the Spirits take me to the Astral Plane with them. I think I will, there I really will be free of Melas."

"…We'll miss you," Rosalyn said. "And we'll be sure to tell Linda."

Marlene removed her hands from his body when the white wolf shook violently and suddenly began to fragment into glittering pieces.

"Then off I go to the Astral Plane. Get Addonexus for me, and if I can I'll help you guys from the Spiritus." Coracinus completely vanished, and Kisling shook his head.

"Quite an enigma, that Shapeshifter. So many unreciprocated questions."

Ari nodded, and raised his voice to address his friends. "Where's Maggie?"

"I saw her run into the castle, she's fine." Rosalyn said. "The entire castle is empty now, the ghosts are all gone. Every one of them."

"Excellent." Ari smiled. "I'm going to teleport Maggie to Madril. It won't take long."

"Okay, slave, you do that." Stan shrugged. "I guess we just leave that machine, especially if the crackpot professor wants to try and work it."

"Then we find the big boss?" Big Bull questioned.

Ari smiled. "That's right. Let me find and transport Maggie, then we can fight Addonexus, and Shiro knows the way."

***

**_We're nearing the end now, want to drop a review? Reviews are love._**


	30. Chapter Twenty One: Linda

Chapter Twenty One: Linda

Linda gritted her teeth, digging her heels into the ground in a vain attempt to resist the guard. The guard hauled her forward and dropped her on a pedestal before stomping away, armor rattling.

Addonexus gave her what might have been a pleasant smile. To someone. Somewhere.

"Hello, Linda. Doing well?"

She didn't even want to answer, the irritated girl just glared at the Hellhound whom was once again wearing his body concealing cloak. She stuck her tongue out at him and earned a smirk in response.

"Well well. Be that way. Your final performance will be arriving soon." He clicked his forked tongue, eyes bright, flaming tattoos visible thanks to his pulled back hood. Linda just turned her head away, but Addonexus wasn't bothered at all.

"Sire," panted a guard from behind her. Linda turned around on her platform, eyes narrowing against the orange stone amongst the fire and darkness around her. Addonexus looked at the guard coolly, obviously wondering what the trouble was about.

"What is it? Speak, Lukewarm."

Lukewarm, a ghost in human form with a round head, pointed ears, and a rough zigzag mouth spoke hoarsely. "Melas has been killed, along with Infernose. Word has just reached our spies."

The Hellhound narrowed his eyes. "Oh really? Most terrible indeed. That means the Rising Rain clouds have stopped progressing. That is fine; we have more than enough energy to fuel my plan." A pause and a thoughtful look crossed the Devil King's face. "How did Melas die?"

"Ari and his associates, my Lord."

Linda felt her heart swell. They were okay, and kicking butt from the sounds of it. She didn't even try to hide the fact she was listening.

"I see. Unfortunate." He frowned. "They have the Spiritus, do they not? They shall be here any moment, I suspect, to rescue their _dear_ friend."

"Coracinus is out of the action, Sire. He's moved on." Lukewarm looked nervous, and Linda wondered why. She wasn't often brought into the Hellhound's direct presence, but she had never seen him lose his temper before.

She felt sorrow pierce her heart, Coracinus had left? She would miss the Shapeshifter, even if his name was insanely complicated. Coracinus Versipellis, she thought unhappily, rest in peace.

"No, not dead. Most likely his soul escaped to the Spiritus. How unfortunate. Luckily he didn't die the special way to come back." Addonexus growled slightly as he remembered that the Shadow Evil King had discovered the secret way one needed to perish to return to life. One whom had did no wrong. What better candidate than the Hero, Rosalyn, especially when she was full of righteous fury?

Unexpectedly, Linda remembered how she became captured again. Stan had something to do with it. She made a mental reminder to kick Coach's butt later. She felt some minor comfort that Coracinus was in the Spiritus, whatever that was.

"Lukewarm, alert the guards. Use every ghost present. I don't want them here until my preparations are complete."

"We shall try our best, sir."

Linda nervously clasped her microphone, grateful she still had her bag. Epros must be with the others, she thought, and they were coming to rescue her.

It had been a long few weeks. But at least they didn't starve or hurt her, but she was always suspicious of the food.

"Epros, hurry." She whispered so quietly it was little more than a light sigh.

***

"Epros, hurry up!" Rosalyn called, racing down the street to get the attention of the magician.

"It is important we rescue Linda, yes, but even we need to rest."

Everyone blinked in surprise. "Usually you want us to race ahead to save her! Where'd this come from?" The Hero asked.

Epros didn't get to answer, because then Ari popped up. "He's right, even with the Spiritus we need to rest. Several of us are injured."

"Fine! But not long," Rosalyn fretted, looking around the almost deserted streets of Madril. The friends had come here after the battle with Melas to deliver Maggie, but unfortunately the fight had taken a lot out of everyone, and even though Rosalyn wouldn't admit it, Ari knew she was exhausted.

"Just one night. Afterwards we can rush straight to him." Ari assured her. A call made the redhead turn, and he smiled at the sight of Maggie and Robert rushing toward him.

"Thank you, for finding her." Robert gave him a grin, and the boy was surprised by the respect in his eyes.

"Yeah, thanks!" Maggie skipped in place. "I was so freaked out."

"You were really brave, actually." Rosalyn told her, and the girl smiled.

"Supplies, rest, food." Ari reminded them.

Epros nodded, and the friends prepared to do the necessary things before their fight with the Devil Evil King.

***

Ari experimented with opening and closing tunnels through the "dimensions", with Shiro instructing him in his head about the _proper_ ways to close and open them. Now that they had Melas's key, which had dropped in the spot he had vanished from, they were scheduled to leave and fight Addonexus in a matter of minutes.

Open.

Close.

Open.

Close.

Ari knew the powers he had, not counting the generic ones the others had, were the most dangerous. He would have to beware using the tunnels, if he messed it up there was a good chance they'd die in between the dimensions. It wasn't something he looked forward to.

Though Ari barely slept, he _did_ sit and try to relax, and the energy gradually returned. Throughout his periods of wakefulness he asked Shiro everything he could about what was going on, and about the Spiritus.

The Spiritus was some kind of physical representation of the usually untouchable Spirits, and he felt a sort of _awe_ for the powerful creatures. If Stan was a Demon, the Spirits were like Angels.

It was necessary to kill Rosalyn because she was good enough, filled with enough Light, to be an Angel. Coracinus was accepted into the Astral Plane because he had enough light.

Ari didn't ask, but he wondered if these divine beings were actually angels, and maybe the Necomortis were the demons.

He found he could call the Spiritus from its position safely between planes, able to withstand the insane turbulence. There was so much to learn that Ari was a little frightened, but he wanted to lead the group correctly and thus got the least amount of sleep, but learned the most.

Ari found out the others all had a guiding Spirit that spoke to them. Foxes, wolves, birds, cats. All sorts of animals that pointed out things they knew and offered their wisdom.

Shiro warned him about the Necomortis, but told him the effects of the Rising Rain could be negated and the landscape restored by a "seraph", but the dragon said sadly there were no "seraphs" in Madril, nor amongst the friends.

So that meant they had to find a "seraph" and that would fix the environment problems.

Now, as he stood carefully constructing and break down tunnels, knowing that if he opened or closed it wrong there could be permanent damage to the dimensions, he told himself what they needed to do.

First, they needed to find Linda.

Second, they needed to fight Addonexus.

Third, they had to find a "seraph".

So simple, and yet so very complicated. But at least since Melas was gone, the Rising Rain had stopped. That brought them some time, but Stan had a feeling Addonexus was doing something, why else would the Devil Evil King withdraw like that?

Rosalyn approached him. "Okay…we're ready."

Ari looked at all of his friends, whom looked back at him. "Think we can…?" He said uneasily.

"We can't get any more ready." Stan growled, sinking into Ari's shadow.

"That's true, undoubtedly." Kisling said.

Big Bull punched the air, dancing on the spot. Epros just looked at Ari, who sighed, turned around, and pierced the dimensions.

Once the dark portal had opened, he was the first to plunge inside.

Opening a portal to the Diablerie drained a lot of the boy's energy, not to mention the forces here acted very different than on the mortal plane. It was only with Shiro's help that he didn't completely lose his concentration and end up crashing the tunnel down on their heads.

Once they emerged, it was all Ari could do to keep the portal stable until Big Bull hauled himself out, then he closed it.

Hands on knees, the boy gasped for a bit, and then felt Marlene's hand on his shoulder and the cooling rush of healing energy.

Giving her a grateful smile, Ari straightened up.

"Haven't been here in a while." Stan said at last.

The Diablerie was bleak and gray. In some places fire erupted from the ground, and in other places trees hung limply. Ari thought he saw dead bodies among the branches, but another glance revealed it to be dark shadows.

The sky bled hungry, scarlet colors across the cosmos, and the sun hung forever in one position, on the horizon, turning everything blood red. The dirt below their feet was red too.

A field, pale mauve in color, eclipsed them on three sides. And in front of them…

Was a dark, black citadel. It was the shape of a coliseum, and the building was stained with things the boy would rather not think about.

Ari led the way, charging straight into the building.

Inside were rows…and rows…and rows...of ghosts.

***

It became apparent her friends were here by the sounds of cursing, flashes of light and wild battle cries that couldn't be anyone other than Big Bull.

His terrifying roars sent ghosts fleeing for their lives out into the Diablerie "foreverset" the native name for the permanent position of the sun in the sky, hanging low.

Addonexus didn't seem bothered, just continued to chalk up a strange circle around Linda, whom couldn't move thanks to a spell that locked her inside the platform. She glared at him, touching the invisible barrier, heart thumping in desperation.

She kept expecting her friends to appear any moment now…But she saw the blood stained skeletal guards in their glowing armor, and wondered if-

Screams of terror around her again, and Linda looked over her shoulder as Lukewarm limped toward his King, his head almost completely covered in blood.

He had a head wound, was all, and head wounds bled a lot.

"Master, they're breaking through."

"Hold the lines," Addonexus said lazily.

"Hold, Sire?"

"Hold. There are thousands of ghosts and ghouls outside, they will not win. If they do, they'll be too tired to fight me. That's all that matters."

Lukewarm gasped. "But-Sire-we-"

Addonexus stood up, eyes glowing. "Do not worry about your death, Lukewarm. Once I hold both the Necomortis and the Spiritus I can bring back anyone." The demonic canine laughed roughly.

Lukewarm gave a fearful titter but did as he was told. Linda gave a triumphant smirk.

"My friends are going to get you!"

"So you say." Addonexus still seemed unfazed by everything, continuing to draw his circles, now with green chalk.

"What're you doing?" She asked, knowing he wouldn't answer, but just wanted to be distracted from the sounds of bloodshed outside.

"It is time you fulfilled your purpose, my little cherub."

Unsure what a cherub was, but knowing it couldn't be good by the tone of his voice, Linda hunched over, holding her microphone tightly. "What did you call me?" She asked, curious despite herself.

"Cherub." He replied. She thought his speaking pattern was very unlike how he usually spoke, all grand and evil, and she realized he was anxious.

She laughed. "You're nervous!" She giggled again, unable to stop herself. "You're afraid of-"

Addonexus snarled standing up, and a raging fire struck Linda in the face. She screamed, clutching the burned flesh on her hands which she had used to block the flames.

"Silence! I will not be trifled with or mocked."

Linda healed herself, glaring with hateful eyes at Addonexus. He looked back at her calmly.

"Yes, you are special. From the Diablerie, did you know that?"

"No…I was born in-"

"You were born _here_. That's why you have horns. Humans do not have horns. But you're not a ghost either."

"W-what? Of course I'm a ghost." Linda exclaimed. She was one of the sentient ghosts that lived among the humans, hence her horns. Right?

"No. You're a human slash ghost hybrid." The Hellhound disagreed. "You grew up in the Diablerie, but due to your unique mixture, such a long period here 'messed' with you. It gave you amnesia, and probably made you scatter brained because of it." He smirked. "Yes, your mother gave you to your aunt and uncle, safely away from the Diablerie."

Linda blinked in surprised, then asked in a whisper, "So…?"

"Still blank as ever." Addonexus rolled his eyes. "You were rather looked down on for being a mix, back then anyway."

"Back _then_?"

"It was a few decades ago that you were here. But I thought such a mixture between an innocent human and a demon…"

Linda leaned back, gasping. No way…it couldn't be, she thought bleakly.

Addonexus pulled his hood over his face with one clawed paw. "Yes, I'm certain you're a cherub. I'm finished now, let your friends come, and I will make them wish they had never left their mothers." Insanity glinted, bright and very, very real in his eyes, and Linda was too stunned to react to the dangerous tone in his words.

***

Ari blasted down a large, wooden door with his friends behind him.

"How many of those ghosts did we get?" Rosalyn asked between breaths. Big Bull shrugged.

"Lost count after…Er…"

"Somewhere around two thousand?" Kisling guessed.

Marlene leaned against a wall. "I can't believe we fought that much! And I'm not really tired."

"Shiro says the Spirits, all of them in the entire Astral Plane, are giving us their power. They much really be afraid of this Necomortis." Ari looked thoughtful.

_Not afraid,_ Shiro disagreed. _The Necomortis is just as normal as the Spiritus, but it needs to be placed back in its proper position among its warlock guardians. The same as the Spiritus, it belongs in its correct place, protected by the priests._

_What if it isn't there?_

_The Diablerie becomes unstable. The Diablerie does not look this barren and bleak everywhere. With the Necomortis, the Symbol of Death, which is just as necessary as life returned here that is all that has come back. When the Spiritus is placed here then life will also return._

_Why are the ghosts against us?_ Ari asked, running through the corridors of the massive arena.

_They fear Addonexus, but by birth right he is their King. Stanley is also King, just as rightfully, but the Hellhound was here first. Many thought Addonexus dead, and Stanley has begun to fade from the minds of his subjects after so many years trapped in his bottle._ Shiro told him. _Addonexus is not related to Stanley, but when his bloodline vanished from the throne, it was Stanley's dynasty that took over._

Ari suddenly blasted down another door, and gasped at what he saw.

They were inside of the arena now, and in the arena there was a raised platform. Two figures were standing on the platform, one cloaked in a grayish black robe, the other in a light pink dress.

"Linda!" Epros called in delight.

She lifted her head, green eyes wide and scared, and then hope flared in their depths. "Eppy! Ari! Everyone!"

Addonexus flicked his hand out, unexpectedly snatching Linda by the back of her dress and hauling her upward. She grimaced but didn't react, and the Hellhound looked down on the friends.

"Come at last to rescue her, have you? You're too late." Pointing to the intricate design of runes on the floor, he continued. "The cherub shall sing her song, and with the Spiritus and Necomortis in my possession, _all_ creatures, mortal, ghost, Spirit or Demon, will answer to me. All creatures will bow down before Overlord Addonexus!"

Linda couldn't help but cry out now as fire encased her arm, turning it orange as the strangely jello like substance left a strange mark on her limb. "One rune is already complete, and now all I need…is the Spiritus."

Ari and the others prepared for another battle, and Addonexus quickly locked them in with a wave of his arms. Strange barriers encased them in the arena, and Linda was back inside her imprisoning bubble.

With a wild howl the Devil Evil King leaped toward them, cloak burned off, claws and teeth aimed for Ari.

Pillars of a strange gray mass rose around Ari, and he scrambled backwards to avoid the substance. The smoke caught Big Bull, but he charged through it and tried to deliver a blow to the Hellhound's side. Addonexus teleported rapidly and the next thing anyone knew he had caught Rosalyn in the back with a flying kick.

Teleport. Got Kisling in the chest.

Teleport. Got Stan in the shoulder.

Teleport. Just missed Epros, whom had a naturally evasive physical form.

Finally catching him, Ari let loose a rain of lightning down on the Devil King. He kept coming, attacking in a frenzy, and they all skipped backward to avoid him.

Rising from the smoke came strange shadowy figures. Rosalyn led an attack on them with Kisling and Big Bull. Stan, Ari, and Epros decided to focus on Addonexus.

Marlene hung back, and her quick heals saved everyone many times during the battle.

Addonexus tried to circle around or teleport near Marlene, but Ari was always by her, ready to take any hit or try anything he could to protect her. Stan and Epros were constantly harrying the Evil King, but he kept coming.

More tendrils dragged down the friends, and the light, even Stan's corrupted light, was flickering violently, desperately, in the gloom.

Struggling to be seen through the blackness.

Addonexus slammed the ground, causing the earth to rise up and unbalance the friends. Swooping down on them, the strange gray creatures whom had multiplied in the fog delivered vicious wounds to the acquaintances.

Ari asked Shiro again for help, and the Spirit did the only thing he could.

Spirits emerged into the realm, draining some of the friends' powers as they did so. They swept down in gleaming forms like silver water, attacking the gray beasts. Shiro himself encircled the sky, roaring in defiance, before unleashing a torrent of white fire.

Addonexus paused for just a moment, awed by the Spirits, watching his own creations struggle against them. Ari delivered a would-be fatal blow to his neck, but the Hellhound was far more resilient and the blood lost barely bothered him. He knocked Ari back, then summoned more monsters before turning to fire more blasts of energy at Stan.

Epros drifted away from the fight, floating upward out of the fog. He peered down, seeing the moving white forms of the Spirits as the circled and fought the darker forms of the enslaved gray beasts.

Linda placed her hand against the invisible barrier, and Epros did the same. The only thing separating their hands was the shield.

Epros suddenly sliced with his cards, and it broke the barrier with an odd sound like shattering ice, or glass.

Linda looked in wonder at the broken barrier, and then threw her arms around Epros's neck.

"You came," she said in delight.

"Of course. Our friends need help." He added, pulling her back. She remembered he disliked heavy physical contact.

"You didn't rhyme," she said in surprise.

He just laughed softly, taking her hand, and hauled her back into the fog.

Ari was fighting two of the gray beasts off, their faces devoid of features like eyes or noses, just a long mouth full of teeth. At the same time he struggled to pay attention to Addonexus, whom was almost constantly causing ice to sprout from the floor to trip him up.

He tripped, and one of the beasts launched itself at him with a terrible snarl, smoky pelt streaming behind it. Ari's reflexes were too slow from so much fighting, and he knew he couldn't block it in time

He didn't have to. Both of the beasts similarly vanished as a white being flowed toward them, swift as a river. The being paused, his round, muzzled face looking back at Ari. Wings, smooth and feathery, were stretched across the blinding fog.

"Coracinus!" Ari said in surprise, looking at the angelic form of the Shapeshifter. He smiled in return, helping him to his feet. "Quick, to Addonexus. I'll hold off the beasts."

Ari nodded, leaping to combat the Devil King again.

Addonexus turned to face him, claws flashing out to block every sword thrust. Ari got in as many hits as he took, and even though Marlene healed his skin, deep inside he was still losing energy.

He stumbled due to a wound in his leg, and cried out in pain as Addonexus brought down his claws across his back.

Stan appeared out of nowhere from the choking fog, blasting dark energy. The Hellhound flipped through the air but landed on his feet, lightly, lithely.

"You won't win," he cried.

Stan smirked, crossing his arms. "Looks like we already did, halfway, at least."

"What makes you say that?" Came the reply.

"Look behind you. Missing something?" Rosalyn teased, breathing hard but still standing strong. Ari thought she continued to glow the brightest of them all, but then again her natural Light energy combined with the Spiritus would make her shine very brightly indeed.

Addonexus didn't even need to look. "Where's the cherub?" His eyes, still insanely bright, roamed left and right. "Where's Lukewarm…no, you killed him! You killed them all! Humans kill everyone, they don't deserve to live! When all creatures bow to me I will slay every human in sight! EVERY HUMAN!" He almost fell over, but the Hellhound instead leaped toward Ari again.

Epros's card caught him in the ear, completely tearing it off. Ignoring the wound, Addonexus kept coming. The raging gray beasts combined with the blinding smoke was making Ari tired, and weakening him too. He fell backward, dropping his sword, as the flaming Hellhound caught him. Addonexus prepared to deliver a fatal blow, but Ari summoned up some energy and blocked the hit. Grabbing his sword, he slashed at his legs.

Addonexus barked in pain, but suddenly his attacks slowed down considerably. Ari found it easy to dodge them, and that's when he recognized the dancing music notes around his foe.

Linda. She was singing softly, her tones no longer as harsh but that seemed to make her spell more effective. Addonexus snarled in fury, but he was too slow to block Ari's blow to his throat and chest.

But the Hellhound wouldn't die.

Ari knew Linda couldn't keep it up forever, and he gave her a thankful look as she performed a spell that healed them all. Not as effective as Marlene's or his individual healing technique, but still efficient since it healed everyone at once and not separately.

Addonexus chased after Ari again, for some reason determined to get him in particular. The fog was clearing, and they realized their long battle with the mad Evil King was finally nearing its end.

Coracinus appeared beside Ari, bounding along in wolf form. "Ari, I don't think he's coherent right now."

It was true; Addonexus was snarling unintelligibly, eyes unnaturally bright.

"He's lost it." Ari agreed, turning to face the Evil King.

Kisling pulled out the old book from Abterqen again, and he looked at Ari for permission. When the boy nodded, Kisling looked down at the pages, obviously making sure he got it right.

Addonexus tore into Ari's arm, and he grimaced, too used to pain to cry out, as his sword arm became injured and he dropped the blade. Rosalyn intervened, but the Evil King wasn't distracted for long, no matter what Big Bull or the others tried to do. He kept struggling, frothing at the mouth, to get back at Ari.

Strange words from a demonic tongue flowed from his lips, and Addonexus suddenly burst into flames. Big Bull hung on though, struggling to hold him still, but to no avail. Away he went, barking madly, and Ari was too tired to do anything as he was hit again.

Linda healed them once more, and then she tried to sing. Her own voice stuck in her throat, for whatever Addonexus was saying seemed to be making her sway. Epros took her farther away from the Hellhound, and she leaned tiredly against him. Marlene ran to Linda's side and seemed to be checking her vital signs. Her eyes kept flicking to Ari's, but out of all of them she was one of the most exhausted. Healing was a difficult and tiring practice.

Ari was pinned into the soil, and he struggled wildly to escape the scratching claws. One last gray beast was decimated by Shiro before the dragon vanished along with the other Spirits. They had taken power by arriving, and now they gave it back. The surge of energy let Ari escape from the Devil King and unleash one final spell.

Circles of light imprisoned Addonexus, kept him still and frozen, and the Hellhound howled in distress to the "foreverset" sky.

Kisling at last began to speak. "Powers above and below…"

Addonexus's eyes widened in recognition and he struggled at his bonds, the circles beginning to fray.

"…this being has abused his powers as King to the Diablerie, not knowing the difference between good and evil. He was told to use wisdom, strength, and courage as he led his people, and he has failed. Addonexus, the last Hellhound in the Diablerie, as disgraced his people. May he be banished for all eternity to the Fell Pits."

Addonexus began to shatter, and he twisted, almost breaking his bonds. Still, he couldn't get a single coherent word out, not even in his own language. He kept trying to recite whatever spell it was that was affecting Linda, but during his final moments, mad from grief from his past, his own conscious, and pain, the Hellhound found he couldn't.

He vanished, and the last tendrils of fog left with him.

And silence returned to the Diablerie.

***

No one knew what to do afterwards. They just hung around in the old coliseum that they found out was called "The Sacrifice Dome", and did nothing but rest and talk.

Relieved conversations started all around them, along with energetic pats on the backs and hellos. Everyone kept asking Linda what happened, how was she, was she okay?

So much had happened, she was fine, and yes she was okay.

Kisling still didn't put away the odd book that only appeared in English during important moments. With the exorcism of Melas and Addonexus complete, everyone thought he could put it away.

But he didn't. He kept fiddling with the pages and looking at the odd, sideways runes.

Linda looked over his shoulder, looking downward at the book. "Restore, rejuvenate."

"I'm sorry?" Kisling asked.

"That's what the book says. 'Song of Life', restore, rejuvenate, and some more odd words."

Everyone exchanged looks, and Linda wondered what it meant. Ari sat up. "Shiro, that's the dragon Spirit I told you about, remember, he says you're a seraph!"

Unexpectedly Linda huffed, turning her head. "Am not!"

"Wait, that's not bad. You can fix the landscape." Ari told her excitedly.

She looked back at him curiously. "I can?" She brightened considerably. "I can! Let me see the book!" She took it gently, flipping to a certain page by sheer instinct.

She stepped onto the platform she had been imprisoned on, microphone in hand. She looked at the book thoughtfully again, then said, "Ari. You should give the Spiritus back, y'know?"

He nodded, calling the sacred object to his hands. "Oh, where's the Necomortis?"

As if on cue the object appeared in a whirlwind of black power, drawn to the Spiritus naturally now that Addonexus had gone. Both of them, one black orb, the other white, jumped to hover beside Linda.

She ignored them, holding the book in one hand and the microphone in the other.

And she began to sing.

Her voice rose and fell like the wind, softly and beautifully, and Ari couldn't recall at that moment she had ever been a bad singer. Music notes floated around her, and an orchestra seemed to accompany her as if from nowhere.

Suddenly, there was a golden spark in the sky. Streaking down from the heavens like shooting stars came strange balls of pure light.

The light made the entire world glow faintly yellow, illuminating the friends. They were surprised, unable to move as Linda continued her beautiful song that spoke of green, growing things and the wonders of life all in one, a continuous stream of pure majesty and beauty.

The Diablerie seemed to stop looking demonic. It blossomed into a world of strange beauty but beauty all the same, unique and unusual, with plants and flowers made differently than anything seen in the mortal world. But still stunning.

The landscape had a certain harshness to it though, that spoke of a cruelty as terrible as its citizens. A strange creature bounded into the foliage before Ari could get a better glimpse of it, and he wondered if that was a river of blood or not in the distance, the thick liquid licking at the banks.

And Linda sang, skipping from side to side, eyes closed in bliss because she knew the entire world was listening and appreciating her song, and it was like the best concert ever to her. Not just the Diablerie was being affected and hearing her beautiful melody, the mortal plane was changing too.

Everyone heard. And everywhere the negative plane was decimated and people returned to their normal realms.

And even though the Diablerie was still locked in its blood red, harsh-but-beautiful sunset…

In the mortal realm…The sun rose.


	31. Epilogue: All's Well

Epilogue: All's Well That Ends Well

Ari watched Linda as she pranced about on stage, her siren's song attracting every boy in Madril like usual. Of course she wasn't singing just for boys, she was singing because it was her passion and she loved to.

"Going away again?" Ari asked Rosalyn. She had a bag over her shoulder.

"Yup. I'll be back though."

"I know."

"Say, do you miss Stan?" She said suddenly, watching Epros as he stood off a little bit from the stage, keeping an eye on the special effects for Linda.

"Of course. But he's supposed to be King, and now that the whole Diablerie listens to him, maybe he's content."

"I don't know. I'm expecting war whenever he wants to 'conquer' the world." She said doubtfully. "However…Ari, is it true the ghosts considered you for their King?"

"For some reason, yes. Even here." He blinked in stunned surprise. "Me? King? No way. I'm happy as I am."

"Good." She murmured, crossing her arms. "So, I'll be going after she's done then. I'm glad everything's gone so well. Kisling seems to be enjoying the Diablerie." She added.

"So many ghosts? Of _course_ he's happy."

"And Big Bull loves Stan's arena."

"The best fighter, isn't he?" Ari replied.

"Yup. How're you and Marlene?"

"We're heading for Capital City to see her father soon."

"Good."

"And you?" He asked her, adjusting the collar on his winter jacket.

Rosalyn frowned, looking to the side. "I don't forgive him."

He nodded.

"But I trust him. I'm not visiting Stan though," she snorted. "Still lots of trouble about. I won't see you or Madril for a while."

"I'm sure your exploits will enchant the land," he teased.

Rosalyn smiled in return, and Ari wondered when she stopped fearing her shadow, that still flashed pink and black beneath her. But then again, she had faced death. Maybe it made her shadow pale in comparison.

Marlene was off somewhere with Annie and his parents, shopping most likely, and as the silence set between them save for Linda's continuing song, the boy closed his eyes.

Nothing had happened in one whole year. Nothing but minor skirmishes, but that was normal among the more wild ghosts.

And in the cloudy gray sky about them, the clouds softer and lighter than the Rising Rain clouds…A single white snow flake spiraled to the earth.

***

There we have it, Okage: Dark Tempest is complete! Loved it? Hate it? Review, please!

Have any questions? Drop it in a review and I'll answer!

Complete at: 129 pages on Microsoft Word.


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